Three Hour Dinner...Coq au Vin

For New Years Eve, David and I had our friend Jonathan over to make Coq Au Vin, our selected recipe from the All About Braising book that I gave him for Christmas. Along with the book, we also used the new Le Creuset French Oven that accompanied the book to make the gift one step closer to a full meal! During a hectic New Year's Eve day, we made several stops throughout the greater LA area to get the ingredients for the recipe. We checked out a Loz Feliz butcher called McCalls to pick up the chicken. Due the the slew of last minute meat shoppers, the shop was too busy to butcher the chicken leaving the task to us. We made a couple more stops to get the rest of the items and headed home to prep for cooking.

Jonathan arrived promptly around 7 and after watching a YouTube clip about butchering a chicken:

we, or shall I say, David and Jonathan, accepted the challenge of taking apart the bird. For a first attempt, the bird, while left on the cutting board looking like a victim of a massacre, a majority of the meat was gotten off in decent portions. I lead the vegetable and herb chopping, David the dredging, and Jonathan was the master of the stovetop. About an hour and a half into prep (cooking the bacon, cutting the carrots, onions, parsley, thyme and dredging and browning the chicken) our other friends came by for a beer before they set off for their final destination for the evening. The presence of the new folks brought a new energy to the kitchen. A few beers later, the mashed potatoes were cooking and the French Oven was almost ready to be pulled out of the oven. The table was prepared and finally, around 10 PM, we sat down to eat out masterpiece. The verdict was unanimous....the meal was wonderful and worth the wait.

Mushrooms on the chopping block. 3/4 a pound of them to be exact.



Browned chicken pieces waiting for wine



As the wine morphs to gravy.



David dredging the chicken.



Jonathan the butcher.