Coq au vin  is a classic dish; chicken and wine. Call me pathetic if you want to but I get tired of coq au vin and a little bored. I mean, you can certainly vary the wines and it is good…but…

So I wanted to make coq au vin a little different. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I just knew I was going to do something.

I used Chardonnay for the wine rather than the more traditional red wine. That didn’t quite do it for me so I finished the final reduction with some heavy cream. Was it incredible? Yeah. It was. Tender with the fruity wine flavor in every bite, smooth, creamy mouth feel from the cream. Added bonus?

The cream pulls all the flavors together in a subtle blend. Fantastic. You can forgo the 24 hour marinating time and just cook everything but the marinating time adds so much flavor that you should try to take the time to do it.

Ready?

Creamy Coq au vin Blanc

• 8 chicken breasts, cut in chinks
• 4 cups chardonnay
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Day One-

1. Place the chicken breast in a ziploc bag. Add 1 cup of the wine, the bay leaf, 1 clove of the garlic, the salt, and pepper.
2. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Two

1. Put about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pan
2. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery and saute slowly until tender. Stir often
3. Once the mirepoix (carrots, onion, and celery) is tender add remaining wine, garlic, and chicken
4. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours
5. Remove cover and remove the chicken and vegetables; bring the remaining liquid to a boil and reduce by half
6. Slowly stir in cream and add chicken and vegatables back in
7. Simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.. You can simmer a little longer for a thicker sauce

Serves 8

Consider adding button mushrooms if you like. This sauce was amazing. I want to make this again, real soon.

image:Marye Audet