Slow-Cooker Coq au Vin; new toy

I did it.

I bought another kitchen toy.

In all fairness I don’t buy new toys often, maybe one or two a year, and I never buy expensive toys (although…..)

I bought a slow-cooker.

I did not buy the cook book that used canned soups in the slow cooker.

I decided that if I can’t figure out how to adapt my own recipes to the slow cooker without the aid of condensed soups, I shouldn’t own one.

So there!

Since it was my new toy it seemed only fair that mon mari get to choose the first recipe.

Bless his heart – he picked something easy: Coq au Vin. .

Slow Cooker Coq au Vin

Total time: 8 hours

plus marinating

Ingredients:

Instructions:

To marinate:

Put the chicken, onion, carrot, garlic and bouquet garni in a deep bowl.

Pour enough wine over to cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

To cook the chicken:

Remove chicken from marinade and drain well (over marinade).

Reserve marinade.

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and fry until crisp.

Put into slow cooker

Add shallots to skillet and lightly brown.

Add to slow cooker

Add chicken to skillet and brown on all sides.

Add to slow cooker.

Add the mushrooms to the slow cooker.

Add a bit of marinade to the skillet to get all the good bits, stir well and add to slow cooker.

Add all vegetables and herbs from marinade to chicken and enough of the marinade to almost cover the chicken. Add more wine if needed.

Cover and cook on low for 7 – 8 hours, stirring / rearranging chicken once or twice.

To finish:

Using a ladle, remove as much of the wine sauce as possible and put into a saucepan.

Turn slow cooker off but leave chicken in and cover to keep warm.

Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat.

Put cocoa into a small bowl. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup sauce.

Slowly whisk cocoa mixture into simmering sauce. Continue whisking until it returns to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to reduce slightly, about 5 minutes.

Dissolve cornstarch in water. Use to thicken sauce to desired consistency if needed. (The cocoa will thicken it slightly.) I used about half – the sauce is supposed to be a bit thick but not gluey.

Arrange chicken and vegetables on a small platter. Spoon some sauce over and serve the rest on the side.

For the curious….

I did what I always do when I’me buying something unfamiliar.

First I do a bit of generic on-line research. I looked at various models and sizes and manufacturers; checked out the reviews and opinions.

Then I go to Amazon UK to see what’s available on this side of the pond and to read the Amazon reviews.

Finally, after I’ve made my decision, I go to Amazon France to order it. When you live in the middle of nowhere almost every purchase of anything other than food is done online – usually Amazon,

I ordered it on Sunday and it was delivered on Thursday – which is really amazing (the whole living in the middle of nowhere thing…)

It came in a huge box.

Inside the big box was a medium box and a small box. The medium box was the slow cooker and the small box was a plug converter….. It was a British slow cooker with the usual monster 3-prong electrical plug which doesn’t work here in France.

It’s the little things that keep life interesting….

Back to the food: The Coq au Vin was wonderful. The chicken very moist and tender. I made a few adjustments to the recipe – I added the shallots and mushrooms at the beginning instead of half-way through the cooking time because I didn’t want to fuss again. Slow cookers are supposed to be easy.

And I left the carrot and onion from the marinade in the dish – why not?

We didn’t notice any difference.

I was much happier doing all the prep work in the afternoon rather than at dinner time. Normally Coq au Vin takes a bit under 2 hours, which means that I’m in the kitchen for those 2 hours before dinner. This was easier.

More slow cooker recipes in the future…. lots more, actually.

Last update on February 7, 2016

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