Friends & Family

Every once in a while a special moment happens.  Yesterday was one of those times.  My sister, Janet came up for a visit from Portland, her first in about a year or so and so it was a great opportunity to catch up.  She had not seen the new apartment and we got to spend some time together, it made me think of all the fun times we used to have in Portland.  Add to that the chance to have dinner with Jodie & Rob.  They had us over for a wonderful French themed dinner.  Well, following is the results.  Be prepared to drool!

We arrived to table decked with flowers and cake.  Rob had initially bought a bouquet of flowers, but felt they were too tall and so went out and got this centerpiece.  It was hard to decide which was more lovely, the flowers or the cake in the background.  Yes it did taste as good as it looks.

Our first course of the evening was a blended French Onion Soup with cheese pillows.  Jodie had made this dish back in October but tonight's version had two key changes.  First, in the soup, she switched out Brie for the Gruyère she used last October.  It proved to be a bit richer and a bit more body. Second, she made the pillows a bit larger to hold the cheese better.  I have to say I liked the smaller versions better, but still both are quite good.  Just liked floating the smaller ones in the soup - a bit more fun.

I caught Jodie describing how she made the wonderful main course to my sister, Janet.  She had used Alton Brown's recipe for the Coq au vin.  The dish takes hours to prepare and in the end it was all so worth it.  Mouth watering and fork tender.  Rob paired it with a lovely Pinot Noir.  The wine was able to work well with both soup and main course.  For those interested, the recipe she used is at the bottom of this posting.  BTW, that is Rob in the background doing clean up duty.  Below is the result of the hours of cooking.  I should have done a better job of making my plate presentable for pictures, but hey, this is not a TV show!

Jodie had made a fabulous Reine De Saba (chocolate almond cake) for dessert that was as good if not better than the one she made last October.  She added more raspberries to the presentation and made the slices smaller which was a marvelous idea.

Well, if my face does not say it, I do not know what will?  It was an amazing dinner and made me one very happy camper.  We even got to play a game of Dixit which was fun and a perfect accompaniment to the evening.

The dessert was paired once again with an amazing red champagne called Rosa Regale' Brachetto d'Acqui which I called more red than rose due to the color which was a deep ruby color.  As last time, quite lovely.  Another stunning dinner and what better way than to share with good friends and family.

Coq au Vin Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Total Time:  13 hrs.  Prep:  1 hr.  Inactive:  8 hrs.  That means cooking time:  4 hrs.

Ingredients:

• 24 to 30 pearl onions
• 4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces  (Jodie opted to use all white meat in her presentation.
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons water
• 6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, quartered
• 2 medium carrots, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups chicken stock or broth

Directions:

 

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside.
Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch sauté pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and sauté until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

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