Coq au Van in under half the time

Hello all! Sorry it's been so long. But not to worry, I have 2 blogs today!!! The first one is from last weekend. My mom came up and I made this for her. I had made it once before for Dawn and Jamie but it was before I had the blog so here it is.

This meal is called "Quick Chick-in-Wine with Brie-Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes". This is really a quick cook version of the French dish Coq au Van. I've heard people say coq au van before but honestly i thought they were saying it cocoa van. So I thought it had something to do with chocolate lol. But as I learned it means chicken in wine. The traditional meal is made with red wine and takes a lot longer to make. This one is made with white wine and obviously, takes much less tine. 

First thing to do is to soak the chicken. You'll want to put it in a bowl that will hold it and the wine in it. Place the chicken in the bowl and cover with wine. It should use about half the bottle of wine. This recipe calls for a dry white wine. Since I am not really a fan of wine I didn't know which one would be good to use. Luckily I know a chef and so I asked him. He suggested Chardonnay so that is what I used. If you drink wine and have one you like better than Chardonnay by all means use that. So anyway after you soak the chicken, heat the oil in the skillet. When the oil is hot, add the bacon, crisp it up and then remove it to a plate. While the bacon is crisping, put the chicken on a meat board and cut into large bite-size pieces. The recipe calls for boneless skinless thighs and breasts. I am not a fan of the thighs so I only use breasts, but if you like both use both or if you like the thighs better, just use those. Anyway, after they are cut up and seasoned, you dredge them in flour and brown them in the bacon drippings. While they brown you chop up the veggies. Remove the chicken to a plate, add some more oil and then drop the veggies, bay leaf and thyme. You put a lid on and let the veggies sweat for about 5 minutes. Once they are tender you add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute. Then you add in the wine that was used to soak the chicken. Add the chicken back in and let the sauce thicken and the chicken cook through. You really can't mess this up. It's really simple to do. Some of you may thing that the wine is not safe to add due to the raw chicken soaking in it. But letting it simmer together brings it up hot enough to kill anything that could be there. I've eaten this meal twice and never had a problem.

The side dish for this meal is "Brie-Yukon Gold mashed Potatoes". When I watched Rachael make this, I was very skeptical because you add a golden delicious apple and brie cheese. But I have to say that they were the favorite part of the meal when Jamie and Dawn ate it and when my mom ate it! They are really simple to make. Now, I can never find the baby yukon gold potatoes in the recipe. The ones I find at publix are called baby yellow Dutch and they work great! First thing is to quarter the potatoes and cover in cold water. Put the water on to boil. When it boils, add salt to them and cook them until tender. Core and chop the apple, put it in a pot and cover with heavy cream. Simmer the apple and cream together for 15 minutes. Once it is done, you add it and the brie cheese to a food processor and blend until smooth. When the potatoes are done, take them out, drain and then put back into the hot pot. This is another Rachael tip but if you put them back the heat from the pot will evaporate any water left on them. Mash the potaotes with the apple/brie/cream mixture to your desired consistency. I know that these sound like they would be really gross but they are awesome!!! They are really creamy with just a hint of sweetness. Even if you think you won't like them, give it a shot!!

Hope you guys enjoy! If you like the pic as always, the recipe is below. Until the next blog, which is in like another minute, Happy Cooking!!

"Quick Chick-in-Wine with Brie-Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes"

2½ Lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts
½ Bottle dry white wine
2 Lbs. baby Yukon gold potatoes
½ C. cream
1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 Tbs. EVOO, plus a drizzle
4 Slices deli-cut bacon or thick cut pancetta, chopped
Flour, for dredging plus 2 Tbs.
1 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves garlic, chopped
2 Ribs celery, chopped
2 Carrots, chopped or 1 C. shredded carrot
1 Bay leaf
A few sprigs thyme, stripped and leaves chopped
⅓ Lb. wedge brie, cut into pieces
Crusty, warm bread
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, add the chicken, cover with wine, and set aside.
 
Quarter the potatoes, leaving the skin-on. Place in a large pot, cover with water and bring up to a boil over medium heat. When the potatoes are cooked, drain and place in a medium bowl. Mash the potatoes, season with salt and set aside.
 
In a small pot, combine apple and cream and redue over medium heat 15 minutes.
 
Drizzle olive oil in a large skilled over medium-high heat , add the bacon and crisp 3 - 4 minutes. Remove to plate.
 
While bacon crisps, remove the chicken to a work surface, reserving the wine. Cut chicken into large bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, dredge in flour then brown in bacon drippings. While chicken browns chop vegetables. Remove the chicken to a plate, then add 2 tablespoons EVOO to the skillet, season the vegetables with salt and pepper and add bay leaf and thyme. Cover pan to sweat vegetables 5 minutes then remove lid, stir in 2 tablespoons flour, cook 1 minute then stir in wine, add chicken back to pan and simmer together to thicken and the chicken is cooked through, a couple of minutes more.
 
To a food processor, add the apple-cream and brie, process until smooth and season with salt. Combine apple-brie mixture with the mashed potatoes.
 
Serve the chicken with wine over brie mashed potatoes.