Day 21: Coq au Vin and Fresh Pasta (aka, the Best Day Ever)

Daily Tips:

• Don’t forget to salt your meat ahead of time! When using pieces of chicken (like the coq au vin recipe) instead of a whole bird, you only want to salt for about 30 minutes ahead of time - but even that little bit will make the meat so much more moist and tender. If you need to salt for longer, you can, but be careful to only salt the skin side - if you salt the side without that protective layer for too long, you’ll end up with salty chicken!
• Making pasta is not a 5 minute activity BUT if you make it in bulk, you can freeze it!!! No need to defrost or anything like that when you want to use - just pop it straight into the boiling water and no one will ever know.
• Peeling pearl onions is super annoying but if you nip the ends and then blanch them, the outside skins will just pop off.

 Coq au vin is an old french stew that was historically made with old roosters. The method used is called braising, which just means browning meat and then cooking it for a long time in some type of liquid until its really tender. You generally do this with tougher cuts of meat - you’re not going to braise filet mignon, for example. In this recipe, the rooster has outlived its value, and to make it tender, was cooked for a long time with brown sauce, wine, mushrooms and onions. Of course now we just use regular chicken, which makes it even more tender. Served with some homemade pasta, it would be tough to find a more delicious, comforting bite of food. Which brings me too: pasta!!!!!! Making pasta at home is actually pretty easy if you have no plans for an afternoon. If you do - forget about it. But, making pasta at home has now spoiled me for eternity. It’s also just so. fun. The best group activity!!! More discussion about making your pasta below.

Coq au Vin

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 oz salt pork or bacon
• 6 chicken thighs
• Flour
• Salt and pepper
• Clarified butter
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 2 cups red wine
• ½ cup demi glace OR, reduced chicken stock
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, sprigs of parsley, sprigs of thyme)
• 15-20 button mushrooms
• 15-20 pearl onions, trimmed, blanched and peeled
• Chopped parsley

Method:

• Cut pork into ½ inch pieces and saute over medium heat until golden and some of the fat has rendered out. Remove pork with a slotted spoon and reserve.
• In a bowl, combine about a ½ cup flour with salt and pepper. Toss chicken in the flour. Add a bit of butter to the fat in the pan, and then and chicken and saute until brown on all sides. Remove and reserve
• Drain off fat and add prk, garlic, wine and gently scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add the chicken, bouquet garni and pearl onions. Cook over low heat, covered, until chicken is tender (45-60 minutes).
• While chicken is cooking, cut mushrooms into halves or quarters (depending on size), and saute mushrooms in butter until browned and tender (make sure to season along the way).
• When chicken is cooked, add mushrooms to the sauce in the casserole and simmer, uncovered, until sauce has reduced slightly. Remove bouquet garni, garnish with chopped parsley and enjoy!

Pasta Dough

 Okay so the idea with pasta is that you want your dough as dry as possible - too much moisture, and you get a soggy bite. But you also want it as smooth as possible - if the flour is refusing to incorporate when you’re kneading the dough and little crusty bits start to form, get those out of there - you want it soft like a baby’s butt. You also need to let it rest so that the gluten can fully develop. This gives it that stretch and elasticity you’re looking for.  

Ingredients:

• 333 grams all purpose flour
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Salt

Method:

1. Place flour on work surface and make a well in the middle.
2. Mix egg yolks, eggs, oil and a pinch of salt and pour into the well
3. Begin to incorporate the flour from the sides of the well into the egg mixture - be careful not to break the well while the dough is still runny!
4. When about half the flour is mixed in, knead in the rest of the flour with your hands to make a dough that if firm but not dry. Don’t feel like you have to incorporate all of the flour if the dough begins to get too dry.
5. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth. Its done when you pull it hard and it snaps back!
6. Wrap in plastic wrap and then let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

              

Artichokes Barigoule

This is a time-intensive dish, but if you like artichokes, one that’s so worth it! Get a bucket of lemon water to pop your artichokes into while you’re cleaning them to limit the oxidation. 

Ingredients:

• 8 large artichokes
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cups each carrots, celery and onions cut to small dice
• 8 oz ha, small dice
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock

Method:

1. Snap off the tough outer leaves of the artichokes, cut off the top 2 thirds of the leaves, and trim the base where the leaves were removed. While working on each artichoke, keep the rest in a bowl filled with lemon water, to prevent browning.
2. Cut artichokes in half, lengthwise, and remove the chokes with a spoon. Place back i bowl of lemon water.
3. Blanch artichokes for 5 minutes. Remove and drain, cut side down.
4. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced vegetables and ham and saute until light brown.
5. Add remaining ingredients and place artichokes on top in one layer. Cover with a parchment lid and simmer, covered, until a knife enters the bottom of the artichokes without resistance (30-40 minutes).