Currier's Coq Au Vin

I have created my own version of this classic French dish that is absolutely marvelous! It is essentially chicken with wine, but adding a little of this and a little of that will make it ohh so much more. I just made this for a dinner party last weekend and learned a few new tricks along the way. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but here is one that I've found that looks pretty similar to mine.

COQ AU VIN

ingredients:
12 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)
1 large yellow onion - diced
1 pkg. of fresh pearl onions - peeled
6 large carrots - peeled and cut at a diagonal into 1/2" angled slices
3 medium turnips - peeled and cut in half, then sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 large package of white button mushrooms - cut into 1/2" slices
2 or 3 handfuls of long, thin greenbeans - trimmed and left whole
1 decent bottle of shiraz
1 can of low sodium chicken broth
large handful of rosemary
1 small can of tomato paste
a handful of flour
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400º. In a bowl combine flour, salt & pepper. After cleaning and towel drying your chicken thighs, lightly dust each one with your flour mixture. They do not need to be drenched in the flour. Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the butter and the olive oil. After this melts, begin adding each thigh and browning them on both sides. They do not need to be fully cooked through, just nice and caramelized on either side. Then remove from the heat and pour in your chicken broth & wine. Yup! The entire bottle. Toss all of your veggies except the green beans on top and lightly push everything down into the mixture. I added a little more salt and pepper and a few shakes of Italian seasoning here, but that's optional. I personally do not like pieces of rosemary in my food, so I place the whole stems on top so that I can remove them later. Put your lid on and place in the oven for 1 hour. Pull out your dutch oven and lightly move everything around to get it reincorporated into the sauce. Add your green beans and try to push them into the sauce as well. Return your pot uncovered back into the oven for another hour.

After you take it out of the oven, remove your rosemary and let it sit uncovered while you make your sauce. With a soup ladle, try and remove as much of the liquid as you can (5 or 6 ladles full) and transfer it to a sauce pan over medium low heat. Add in your can of tomato paste and wisk to combine. This sauce will thicken after a few minutes and you can remove it from the heat.

I served my Coq Au Vin over mashed white beans. I will include that recipe below, but it would also be nice over some simple garlic mashed potatoes. Place a heap right in the center of your plate, top that with a peice of the chicken. Sprinkle a variety of the veggies around the sides and pour a ladle of your sauce over the top! For a really pretty touch, add a fresh sprig of rosemary on top. This is a show stopper of a meal and sure to please any crowd.

MASHED WHITE BEANS
1 bag of dried white beans
1 ham hock
1 large white onion - chopped into large pieces
a few sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Soak your beans overnight. Then cook them according to the package with the salt, pepper, rosemary, onion and the ham hock. After they cook for several hours, remove the ham hock and the rosemary and drain as much of the liquid as possible from the beans. Mash roughly to combine and serve.