(Cheater’s) Coq au Vin

This dish is literally me going through every nook and cranny of my fridge, trying to find something to make for dinner. It’s a loose interpretation of a Coq au Vin, but with normal people ingredients (for one, I don’t know where I can buy a rooster) and very lazy cooking techniques.

Serves four

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs, cut to bite-sized pieces
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 strips of bacon, sliced
A handful of button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of marsala wine or red wine or red vermouth
1-2 cups of low-sodium chicken stock
1 tbsp. tomato paste

How to make:

  1. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil in a pot and cook the bacon until crisp. Move to a plate with some paper towels so that the bacon doesn’t get soggy.
  2. If the bacon rendered its fat, remove all but 2–3 tbsp. of it.
  3. Sauté the onion and garlic until fragrant.
  4. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink. Since they’re bite-sized, they won’t take more than 5–10 minutes. Season the chicken with salt and pepper once they start to color.
  5. Add the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pot. Reduce the liquid by half.
  6. Next, add the tomato paste and stir until well combined with the chicken.
  7. Add the chicken stock until the meat is almost covered. Feel free to add water if the stock isn’t enough.
  8. Lower the heat to medium and leave to stew for about 30 minutes.
  9. In a separate pan, brown the mushrooms in 1 tbsp. of butter or olive oil. Do this about 5 minutes before the stew finishes cooking.
  10. Check for seasonings. Add a teaspoon of dried oregano if you have it. Leave out if you don’t.
  11. Stir in the bacon and the mushrooms before serving.

Optional: Stir in a slurry if you want a thicker sauce.

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