I served up some braised chicken tonight. It wasn't a true coq au vin, but it was truly delicious.
Here are the steps I took:
- Started with the really good olive oil I had picked up last time I was at Well Seasoned in Langley. It imparts such a lovely flavour. Once it was well heated I browned just over a kg of skinless, boneless, sea-salted, and cracked-peppered chicken thighs in my cast iron roasting pan.
- Once browned, I removed the thighs from the pan and threw in a chopped-up onion, two cloves of garlic and stirred them around until the onions were just translucent.
- Then I poured in about one cup of 2008 Domaine Mondié, a Vin de Pays D'Oc Merlot/Syrah blend (from the area in France known as the Languedoc), and scraped all the good bits off the bottom of the pan.
- After scraping, I put the chicken back in the pan and added more salt and pepper, thyme, and a bay leaf. Then I poured in about two cups of chicken broth and another cup of red wine.
- A cut parsnip, two bunches of carrots (cleaned but not scraped) and a layer of tiny potatoes were the next into the roaster. On top of those went more thyme and a freshly picked sprig of rosemary (I'm so glad my rosemary tree lives through the winter!).
- An hour and a half in the oven and our supper was ready!
Since I didn't use all the wine for the chicken, we were able to enjoy it in a glass, too.
This wine is one that I received in my Opimian Select order. It has black fruit and black pepper, plus a little minerality on the nose. On the palate, it's round but has some juiciness, with flavours of dark fruit and pepper that don't linger too long. Perfectly serviceable, it went well with the dinner and is okay to sip on its own. I sure wouldn't count on this one to lie down for any length of time; if I had a second bottle, I'd open it as soon as possible.
Salut!
Copyright © 2010 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
