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This is a classic recipe from France that is basically a stew of chicken and vegetables in red wine… traditionally a burgundy. Traditionally an old rooster or laying hen was used and the red win was employed both for flavouring and to act as a tenderizer. This version is derived from an authentic farm recipe of the late 1950s. I’m starting with what my wife would call a ‘farm chicken’ and which is called here in KZN as a ‘black Zulu chicken’. This is a tougher stewing chicken that’s great for making curries and stews. We’re starting with a mirepoix of finely diced onion, carrot and celery along with bacon pieces as the flavour base. Thyme is the main herb (normally I would add tarragon too but fresh tarragon is not readily available, so I omitted. Normally I would add chicken stock to the wine, but here I used beef and chilli stock as my wife likes it. In the original farmhouse version of the dish, the chicken was gently stewed in the wine and stock starting at breakfast time. It was placed on a range and cooked slowly, unattended until lunch time. This means that the recipe should work wonderfully in an instant pot or slow cooker. The original recipe would have used slab bacon. This is more highly salted and smoked than modern commercial bacon and would have had to be blanched. The bacon piece would have been placed in a pot, covered with 8cm (3 in) water above the meat, brought to a boil and simmered for 5 minutes before draining. The cooled bacon would then have been diced for use in this recipe.

Though I used a whole chicken, you could also make this with chicken portions. I would recommend 1 drumstick and 1 thick per person.

Ingredients:

For the chicken and marinade:
1 whole chicken, jointed into serving portions
500ml (2 cups) red wine
250ml (1 cup) stock (chicken or any stock you like)
4 tbsp brandy (optional)

For the mirepoix:
½ small onion, finely diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced

For the Stew:
6 tbsp diced bacon
1 medium onion, peeled, quartered and sliced thinly
4 medium carrots, scraped, halved and cut into 1cm (1/2 in) pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp tomato puree
450g tin of high-quality Italian chopped tomatoes
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
250g (8oz) fresh chestnut mushrooms, sliced thickly
250g (8oz) pickling or baby onions, peeled and halved
Olive oil, if needed
Beurre manie (2 tbsp flour blended with 2 tbsp softened butter)
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

Begin by marinating the chicken. Place the chicken pieces in a bowl and pour over the wine and stock. You can marinate over night in the fridge, or if making this for supper marinate in the morning, again in the fridge.

I cooked my coq au vin in a cast-iron casserole, so all the frying was done in this pot. You can fry in a frying pan and finish in a saucepan if you desire. Heat your pot, add the bacon pieces and fry over medium heat until they render their fat and become crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Drain the chicken pieces from their marinade (reserve the liquid) and pat dry with kitchen paper. Add a glug of olive oil to the bacon fat then nestle in the chicken pieces (do not over-crowd and cook in 2 bathches if needed. Fry, turning frequently until the chicken is nicely browned all over (about 12 minutes). Return all the chicken pieces to the pan, pour over the brandy and flambee (ignite the brandy with a stick lighter and allow the flames to die down).

Remove the chicken and set aside. Add a little more olive oil, followed by the mirepoix ingredients. Stir-fry until the vegetables are soft (about 6 minutes) then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the sliced onions and carrots to the pan and cook, stirring frequently until the onions are golden brown, about 8 minutes. Return the mirepoix ingredients to the pot and add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute more.

Move the vegetables to the side of the pan, add the tomato paste and cook for about 4 minutes, until darkened and aromatic. Stir the tomato puree into the vegetables then add in the tinned tomatoes (and juice) along with the reserved red wine marinade. Stir to combine, making certain to scrape up any crusty bits on the bottom of the pan.

Nestle the chicken pieces in the pan, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the chicken is tender. The exact cooking time will depend on the age and relative tenderness of the chicken. If using chicken pieces, 20-30 minutes will be enough. Our chicken was tougher and I cooked for 2 hours. If cooking for over 1 hour top up the liquid as needed.

For the mushrooms, add 2 tbsp olive oil to a frying pan. Place over medium-high heat, add the mushroom pieces and cook until nicely browned and beginning to crisp. Turn onto a plate and set aside until needed.

Add the onions to the frying pan (with more oil if needed) and fry for about 5 minutes, or until beginning to colour. Stir the thyme into the coq au vin then add the onions. Cover and cook for 10 minutes more.

At this stage, remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Break the beurre manie into pieces and stir these into the stew. Continue cooking until the sauce has thickened to your liking then season to taste and return the chicken pieces to the pot and bring back to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to ensure that the chicken is hot the garnish with the fried mushrooms, bacon pieces and a sprinkle of fresh thyme.

Bring to the table and accompany with boiled potatoes, pasta, noodles, mash or fresh greens. Make sure you have crusty bread on hand to mop up the juices.