Chicken Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Sourdough Olive Bread (homemade by my neighbor, Ken)

Thyme and a Hen

Julia Child’s signature dish, and her favorite, was Beef Bourguignon (pron: Beef boor/ghee/nawn). The runner-up was Coq au Vin—chicken in a wine sauce. What was once the food of peasants in the 1500s, the famed chef turned into haute cuisine.

Both dishes are braised in red wine. But they have different meats—one beef; the other chicken. In addition to the vino, the stews feature onions, bacon, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, parsley, and a few herbs.

Drop the Coq in the Crock

This week I ran onto the America’s Test Kitchen recipe for Coq au Vin. It was a slow-cooked version of chicken thighs, that went into the Crockpot for 4 hours. The sauce fumes with fragrance. When served, it co-mingles nicely with side dishes, making the sauce perfect for sopping bread and topping mashed potatoes.

Our work crew of family and friends were feeling a bit like French peasants after a round of cleaning flower beds, so the humble fare seemed fitting. 🙂

Coq au Vin, a peasant stew that became a designer food.

Coq au Vin: A Dish to Crow About

But you need to subscribe to America’s Test Kitchen to view their slow-cooker recipe. Fortunately, William-Sonoma has a freebie that’s nearly identical.

Buffet: (clockwise from lower left) Salad of Roasted Butternut Squash, Spicy Pecans, and Feta; Twice-Baked Potatoes; Sourdough Olive bread; and Wild Morel Mushrooms cooked in a wine sauce, and Coq au Vin.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Morel Mushrooms in Wine Sauce. So far this year, the wild mushrooms at the farm have been zip . . zero. . . zilch. But Lucy lucked out; she found these growing in her front yard. The wild turkeys also refused to cooperate during hunting season this year during hunting season.

Salad of Roasted Butternut Squash, Spicy Pecans, and Feta (Sometime I add dried figs or dried cranberries.)

A Lively Rock Garden

Iris

Creeping Jenny loves to fill the space between the cracks.

Phylox

A Hosta springs to life amid the dead leaves. But nibbling deer too often get to enjoy the plants before I do.

Nancy Skinnies Up the Recipe

It was everything a good dish should be: quick, simple, nutritious, and flavorful. Women of the Eighties, seeking to lose weight, could prepare the entrée for their families without making them feel deprived.

If you’re feeling nostalgic, click here and take your taste buds for a stroll down memory lane. Or you can squint and read from the old newspaper clipping.

How to Make a Baja Unhealthy

Subway’s Baja Chicken and Bacon will give you more than 100% of your recommended salt intake with just one sandwich. You might not want to do that too often.

Mrs. Reagan said she served Baja Chicken with Rancho California Rice, but I don’t have nerve enough to pass that on without an artery alert. The rice recipe calls for 3 cups of cheese, 2 cups of sour cream, and a half-stick of butter. You could get by with that in the Eighties, but not today.

Best to stick with Nancy’s recipe or the spiced up version for maximum health benefit.

Kitchen Note: I use a whole cup of wine, when cooking the recipe: 2/3 cup for the chicken and a 1/3 cup for me. You’d be surprised how much that improves the dish.