Quick Coq Au Vin

This is a fantastically easy (and quick!) recipe for coq au vin which usually requires a long cooking time. What is coq au vin you say? Well in case you couldn’t tell, it’s a French dish with fairly similar flavors to another French classic, beef bourguignon. Coq au vin usually consists of meat (braised), wine, mushrooms, lard, onions, etc. Today’s version is a quick cooking and healthy version of the classic coq au vin. Here’s what you’ll need:

– 2 chicken breasts
– 14 ounces low sodium chicken broth
– 1/2 cup of dry red wine
– 1 onion, finely sliced
– 1 to 2 cups of mushrooms, sliced
– 2 carrots thinly sliced
– 1 teaspoon crumbled, dried rosemary
– 1/4 cup of flour
– 1/4 cup of water
– 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
– parsley
– olive oil for cooking
– salt and pepper for taste

Place the flour in a shallow dish. Slice your chicken breasts in half so that you now have four portions of chicken. Two portions may be smaller but thicker and the other two may be larger but thinner. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour.

Heat up some olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook on each side for a couple of minutes, until both sides are slightly browned.

Meanwhile, whisk the flour with 2 tablespoons of the leftover flour and set aside for later. Once your chicken breasts are browned on both sides, remove from the pan and set aside. Add some additional olive oil in a pan and heat up the oil. Add the onions, carrots mushrooms and rosemary.

Stir to combine and cook the vegetables until they begin to soften and brown slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, red wine and tomato paste. Season with some additional salt and pepper.

Stir until the tomato paste has combined and bring the liquid to a simmer. Once the liquid is simmering, add your chicken back to the pan.

Cover, reduce the heat to maintain the simmer and cook, stirring once or twice until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer your chicken to a serving plate/dish. Increase the heat to medium high and stir the water-flour mixture into the pan with the sauce.

Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened, about a couple of minutes. Once the sauce has finished cooking you should have a thick, almost gravy-like delicious sauce.

Pour over your chicken and serve your deliciously healthy coq au vin! The flavor in this dish is rich and delicious, as there is a heartiness to the chicken and sauce from the braising in the red wine. The rosemary and mushrooms also adds a nice earthy undertone to the entire dish.

I served this with a delicious balsamic onions and green bean veggie dish and some olive oil and garlic cous cous and it made for a simply scrumptious and healthy dinner!

Bon appetit! 🙂