classic coq au vin

Since Christmas is coming soon, and I’ve been a very good boy, I decided to buy myself a little present.

I went ahead and bought myself a fancy pants French braising pan. I’ve had my eye on one for years so I decided that I deserved to treat myself this year. I justified the cost (to myself) with the knowledge that I love braising, especially in cooler months, and this pan is so sturdy and solid that it should last a life time if I take care of it.

And it’s pretty.

I knew before I even got it home that I wanted Coq au Vin to be the first meal I prepared in my new favorite toy. I’ve made countless variations on chicken braised in wine, but I’ve actually never made a classic coq au vin before and I knew that that had to change.

We had a lot of red wine left over from our Thanksgiving celebration, so the timing couldn’t have been better. I really don’t know how this happened, by the way. I’m more than a little disappointed in myself and my dinner guests for not sucking down every last drop of booze that night.

I don’t own a copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (for shame, I know), so instead I looked to the modern queen of classic cooking, Ina Garten. As it turns out, her recipe is reaaaallly similar to Julia’s anyway. I made just a few tiny tweaks to make her recipe my own, and to thicken up the sauce just a wee bit.

I’m going to channel my inner Ina and tell you that if you’re going to make this recipe, it pays to splurge on good ingredients. Use good wine, fresh thyme, and nice plump fresh mushrooms. If you can, get a nice thick whole chunk of bacon and dice it into thick lardons yourself. The size and texture just stands up better to low and slow cooking. If you can’t though, don’t let the bacon stop you. Seriously.

And, if you can, get a really really good chicken. If you can find an organic air-chilled chicken, go for it. They’re a little bit pricier but they have a much better flavor and the fat renders out of the skin better since the chicken hasn’t soaked in (and absorbed) water during processing. I won’t get into the specifics of chicken processing, but rest assured that (for many reasons) it’s worth your while to look for chicken that says “air chilled” on the package.

classic coq au vin | Brooklyn Homemaker

I was looking forward to butchering the chicken myself and showing you the process, but my market was out of whole air-chilled chickens but did have them pre-butchered for the same price. Sorry guys! Some other time.

If you don’t want to butcher your own chicken, your butcher will probably do it for you. Ask them to split the breasts. If you don’t want to use all the parts of the chicken, you can also do this with a mix of breast and thighs, or all thighs, or all breasts. It is important for flavor though, that everything is still on the bone with skin, and for even cooking you’ll need to have all the breasts cut in half.

This recipe is definitely worth all the hype. It’s rustic and homey and rich and sublimely satisfying.

I know that people always assume that all French food is fussy and stuffy and unattainable, but it’s not (always) true! French country dishes like Coq au Vin or Boeuf Bourguignon are actually really simple, comforting and filling. If you’re completely unfamiliar, Coq au Vin is a country chicken stew made with carrots, bacon, red wine, and mushrooms. It’s incredibly hearty and earthy, like some of the best comfort food you could ever want; like a warm cozy blanket made of chicken braised in red wine. The chicken is falling-off-the-bone tender and bursting with the rich bold flavors of the wine and thyme and mushrooms, and the sweet tender carrots and pearl onions balance the richness perfectly.

Just make sure you have enough wine to last you while you’re cooking and still have some left for serving!

Classic Coq Au Vin

Servings: 4 to 6-ish
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adapted from Ina Garten for Food Network

4 ounces thick cut bacon or pancetta, diced
1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (breasts sliced in halves)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound carrots, cut into thick rustic pieces
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup Cognac
2 cups good dry red wine (preferably Burgundy)
1 cup chicken stock (homemade if possible)
10 fresh thyme sprigs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 pound frozen pearl onions
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels and season liberally on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat a large heavy-bottom Dutch oven or braising pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon. If you have more than a tablespoon or two of bacon fat in the pan, pour off and reserve to use later in place of the butter.

When the bacon is removed, brown the chicken pieces in batches in a single layer for about 5 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Don’t crowd the chicken, just do two batches. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon and continue to brown until all the chicken is done. Set aside.

Add the carrots and sliced onions to the pan with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the Cognac and put the bacon, chicken, and any juices that collected on the plate back into the pot along with the wine, chicken stock, and thyme. Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, cover the pot with a tight fitting lid, and place in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is just done. Remove from the oven and move back to the stovetop.

Mash 4 tablespoons of butter (or reserved bacon fat) and the flour together and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions and bring the stew back up to a very low simmer. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter (or bacon fat) to a separate medium saute pan, and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned and liquid cooks off. Stir the mushrooms into the stew and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, pasta, or cous cous.

sweet potato and apple dog treats

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now it’s officially December.

I really can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by. The idea that we’re now in December is completely bewildering to me, but here were are. Early December always puts me in the mood to do two things.

1) Find and decorate the perfect little Christmas Tree

and 2) Bake holiday cookies!!!!

I know Christmas is still a few weeks away yet, but I’ve got cookies on the mind nonetheless. Holiday parties and cookie swaps usually start well before Christmas day, so it seems that the day the calendar flips over to December, holiday cookies are fair game.

I’m not here today to share a holiday cookie recipe though. I’ve been thinking about my baby dogs a lot lately, and how they deserve to benefit from all my holiday cookie baking too. I make their wet food every month and freeze it, so they’re totally spoiled, and they do get a lot of treats in the way of fresh apples and sweet potatoes, but I’ve actually never gone to the trouble to make any homemade cookies just for them.

That needed to change.

Given their fondness for apples and sweet potatoes, I decided to combine those flavors with a bit of parsley (for breath freshening) and some oats and brown rice flour for substance.

I bought this teeny tiny dog bone cookie cutter from work over a year ago so I’m thrilled to finally have a reason to use it!

How freaking cute are these little treats?!?!?!

I’ve also realized recently that I haven’t been sharing many photos of the pups here lately. If you follow me on instagram, you see plenty of them, but considering what a big part of my world they are, it’s actually pretty weird that you don’t see more of them in my posts. Today I’ll be sharing enough photos of my little girls to make up for leaving them out for so long.

I mean look at those little faces. Couldn’t you just die?

Doris, the grey one on the left, was our first. She came home with Russell less than a week after we were engaged, and it was love at first sight. He took our engagement as a sign that it was time to start a little family, and I’m so glad that he did. She’s the sweetest, cutest, most calm, loving, & loyal little pup you could ever want. She also tends to be the stubborn one, but I’m pretty sure she gets that from me.

Betty, on the right above, was actually a wedding gift to us from Russell’s sister and her family. At our wedding she gave us and IOU for a new puppy, and shortly after we came back from our honeymoon she rescued a little puppy that needed a new home. Russell’s family is from California, so his sister fostered her for us for almost a month before we were able to fly out and get her. Betty is the playful, scrappy, protective one in the family. She’s intensely concerned with what’s going on in our backyard and cannot allow even the tiniest bird to land in our yard without letting them know that they’re on her turf. Considering they’re both the same breed, it’s shocking to me how different their personalities are.

Cute overload.

Doris and Betty are miniature schnauzers, a breed we fell in love with after doing a lot of dog sitting for friends. They’re both really small for their breed though, and we’re not sure how or why they both worked out to be the same super tiny size. The average miniature schnauzer is usually about 15 or 20 pounds, but Doris is 7 pounds, and Betty is 6. I think that Doris may have been the runt of her litter, and while Betty has AKC papers as a pure bred miniature schnauzer, I am pretty sure she was intentionally bred to be a tea-cup or toy size.

Despite their tiny size, these girls have BIG personalities, and bring a ton of joy into our lives. I hope that seeing all these pictures of someone else’s dogs, that you’ve never met, hasn’t caused too much eye rolling. They’re a major part of my life, so you’re just going to have to grin and bear it. Hopefully though, you’re enjoying every second of it.

If you have a dog at home that deserves just as much love and special treatment as my little girls do, these treats are sure to please. I tried them myself, because I’m weird like that, and by people standards they’re a little bland, but Doris and Betty LOVE them. They love sweet potato and apples already though, so if your dogs don’t I can’t guarantee the same results.

If baked until completely dry and crisp, these treats should keep for a month or more in an airtight container. They’ll make perfectly adorable holiday gifts and stocking stuffers, so if you’re as crazy about what you feed your dog(s) as I am, these are a great gift idea! I used a tiny (1 inch) dog bone cutter and got over 150 treats out of the recipe, but I have tiny dogs so a little goes a long way. If you have a bigger dog and use a larger cutter you’ll get a lot less out of your batch.

Sweet Potato and Apple Dog Treats

Servings: depends on size, a 1-inch cutter produced over 150 treats
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1 large sweet potato (or 1 cup sweet potato puree)
1 large firm apple (I used braeburn)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
1 egg
pinch of salt
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups whole grain brown rice flour

Preheat your oven to 400F. Slice the tips off the ends of your sweet potato, and cut the potato into 4 quarters (leaving the skin on). Wrap the sweet potato in aluminum foil and roast on a baking sheet for about 45 minutes or until cooked through and tender. Let cool a bit before handling. Reduce oven to 350F.

Puree the cooled sweet potato in the bowl of a food processor. You want about 1 cup of puree. Peel and core the apple and process, along with the parsley, until finely chopped and well combined. Pulse in the egg and pinch of salt to combine. Add the brown rice flour a oats and pulse pulse pulse until the dough comes together in a sticky ball.

Roll out to about 1/4″ thickness on a well floured (using more brown rice flour, not wheat flour) surface, with plenty of rice flour on the rolling pin and your hands. The dough will be sticky but workable. You may want to keep a little bowl of the rice flour to the side to dip your cookie cutter in every now and again.

Cut out with desired cookie cutter in any shape or size you like. The smaller the cutter, the more treats you’ll get out of this recipe. Line up the treats on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. They can be spaced pretty close together (but not touching) as they won’t spread much (if at all). Bake at 350F for about 20 or 30 minutes, or until completely dry and crisp. Larger shapes may take longer to bake. If you’re going to try to keep them for more than a few days though, it really is important that they’re completely dried out.

Store for up to a month in a cool, dry place, in an air-tight container.

maple & thyme whiskey sour

Last week I made a cake with bourbon, and this week I thought it might be fun to use whiskey in a different way. I thought I’d try drinking it.

When I was in college I worked as a waiter at a restaurant on Main Street in Lake Placid, and one winter I caught a nasty cold and lost my voice. Trying to wait tables in a busy restaurant with no voice is not an easy feat, but like most waiters, I needed the money and couldn’t get my shift covered.

At the time my usual drink of choice was a gin and tonic, and I thought whiskey was the nastiest diesel fuel known to man. Next door to the restaurant was a ski shop and a few times a week the guys working there used to come by for a drink after work. They saw me sipping hot tea and lemon at the end of the bar and told me that if I put a shot of whiskey in my tea I’d be able to talk for the rest of the night. The bartender poured me some Crown Royal and I gave it a shot (literally).

I choked it down but my throat immediately felt better, and my voice improved enough for me to get through my shift without incident. I actually think it was probably the hot tea that helped my throat, but at the time I was sure the whiskey did the drink. I started three more shifts that way and by the end of the week I’d developed a little bitty taste for whiskey.

At first I was a strict Crown Royal man, but it didn’t take me too long to start trying other whiskeys. Shortly after college I got into bourbon and have been hooked ever since. Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of rye whiskey though, and I’m becoming a really big fan. While I think bourbon is my favorite whiskey to sip straight, I think I may actually prefer rye for cocktails and mixed drinks.

The main difference between bourbon and rye is the ratio of ingredients that make up the mash. They share many ingredients but corn must be the main ingredient in Bourbon, while rye is made with, you guessed it, rye. Bourbon usually tends to age a bit longer as well. Flavor-wise, I think bourbon tends to be a bit smoother, sweeter, and more balanced while rye is a bit of spicier and more assertive.

I think the smooth subtle flavor of bourbon can get a bit lost in cocktails, but rye has enough backbone to hold its own against bitters and citrus and mixers.

Lately I’ve been in the mood to make a whiskey sour the old fashioned way, with egg white shaken into the drink to give a smooth foamy texture. The combination of superfine sugar, fresh lemon juice, and egg white blows bartenders sour mix out of the water. If you’ve never tried a whiskey sour made this way, you don’t know what you’re missing.

The only small twist I made to make this bright summery cocktail more appropriate for the fall is to substitute real maple syrup for the superfine sugar, and add some fresh thyme to green things up a bit. If you’re a whiskey fan, you’ve gotta try this.

If you’re worried about drinking raw egg, you can use pasteurized eggs or egg whites from a carton, but I feel completely safe in knowing that I buy high quality eggs from small farms and don’t need to worry.

This cocktail is bright and fresh and satisfying. The rye whiskey and fresh lemon juice play off of each other perfectly and the addition of egg white gives the shaken cocktail a smooth, creamy, almost silky mouthfeel. Adding maple and thyme to this classic drink give just a hint of Autumnal earthiness without being too blatant. The flavors are the perfect subtle compliment to the lemon and whiskey. Thyme adds an herbal woodsiness, and the maple is a wonderfully sweet and smoky replacement to the superfine sugar traditionally present in a whiskey sour.

Maple & Thyme Whiskey Sour

Servings: 1 cocktail
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2 to 3 big long sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 oz real maple syrup (grade B preferably)
1 dash orange (or citrus) bitters
1 oz fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
2 oz good rye whiskey (or any good American whiskey)
1 egg white
ice
1 small thyme sprig to garnish

Using a cocktail muddler, muddle the long sprigs of thyme with maple syrup and orange bitters in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Smoosh ’em and smash ’em and stir ’em up real good.
Add lemon juice, whiskey, & egg white and close the shaker. Shake and shake and shake and shake and shake like you’ve never shaken a cocktail before. If this were 2003 you might want to shake it like a polaroid picture.
Remove the lid, add a good handful of ice, and close it back up. Give it a few more good shakes, just until the cocktail is niiiiice and cold.
Strain into a martini or coupe glass. Most cocktail shakers have a built in strainer, but you may want to use a small mesh strainer to catch any loose thyme leaves. (I didn’t. There were a few but they didn’t bother me.)
If desired, garnish with a cute & dainty little thyme sprig.

spiced apple cider bundt cake with buttered bourbon glaze #bundtbakers

It’s the third Thursday of the month y’all! You (probably) know what that means!

Bundt bonanza baby! #bundtbakers is back and this month’s theme is BOOZE!!!

Now that’s my kinda theme! I knew when I joined the bundt bakers that booze was bound to turn up as a theme sooner or later, and I’ve been waiting patiently since day one. When I hosted a few months back I almost chose it myself, but I decided that I shouldn’t force it. Thankfully I didn’t have too long to wait!

I want to say a big big thank you to our host, Lauren of From Gate to Plate, and remind everyone to keep scrolling down after the recipe to see all of the beautiful booze based bundts everyone baked this month!

I wanted my bundt this month to have a nice assertively boozey flavor, but also wanted the cake to be seasonally appropriate with some kind of Autumnal produce.

After weighing several options I decided on an apple spice cake with a boozey glaze. I love the flavor of apple cider spiked with a bit of whiskey so I figured I couldn’t go wrong turning that into a cake. I opted for bourbon because it has such a nice sweet caramel-y flavor, but in a pinch you could use other whiskeys. Scotch might be a bit too smoky, though that actually could be an interesting addition.

As fate would have it, I’d have a few stumbling blocks before I’d end up with a finished cake to slice into.

Early on I had a feeling that the batter was too liquid, but I’d gotten the recipe from a trusted source so I powered through and put the cake in the oven. The minute it came out of the oven I knew it wasn’t good. The cake seemed like it had hardly risen at all, but within minutes it managed to start to sink in the center. I waited for it to cool a bit before un-molding, but the minute I lifted the pan off of the cooling rack I knew something had gone very wrong. The texture was dense and rubbery, almost flan-like, and not in a good way. I think the addition of a small amount of bourbon to the batter may have made things even worse, but I hadn’t made any serious changes or substitutions so I still don’t fully understand what went wrong.

Not being one to accept failure, especially in the face of a #bundtbakers deadline, I asked Russell to run to the store for me while I washed the pan and took out more butter to soften.

The second time around I decreased the amount of liquid and apple and increased the amount of flour. Before the batter even went into the pan I knew things were going to be okay.

Aaaand then I went to make the glaze.

I thought a brown sugar bourbon glaze would compliment the flavors in the cake really nicely, but when I tried creaming the brown sugar with butter it refused to dissolve and the resulting glaze had a terrible gritty texture. Ugh. Seriously?

So, that batch went in the garbage along with my first cake. Next I tried melting the butter and brown sugar together in a saucepan to get rid of the grit factor, but again, disaster. I don’t know if my brown sugar was old or something, or if I was just having an off day. Either way, two cakes had been baked and I was about to make a third glaze.

Thankfully the third time really was a charm, and the glaze was perfect both in texture and flavor. Phew!

In the end, this cake was worth all the effort and frustration.

It’s unbelievably moist and wonderfully tender with loads of fresh apple flavor and plenty of spice. Like apple pie in cake form, with a hint of sweet bourbon to round everything out. It doesn’t get much better than that, especially this time of year. Bourbon has such a rich caramel-y flavor that the buttered bourbon glaze perfectly compliments all that apple and cider and spice. The glaze does have a kick to it, but you get such a small amount in every bite of cake that it feels really well balanced. None of the alcohol gets cooked out of the glaze though, so this cake is strictly for adults. Sorry kiddos!

Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Buttered Bourbon Glaze

Servings: 12ish
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adapted from Serious Eats

1 stick unsalted butter, softened (plus more for pan)
1 medium firm apple (I used Braeburn), peeled and grated (about 3/4 cup grated apple)
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 oz) bourbon whiskey
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour a non-stick 10 cup bundt pan and refrigerate until ready for use.
In a medium bowl, mix together the grated apples, apple cider, buttermilk, bourbon, and vanilla. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and white and brown sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating fully between each addition. Mix in canola oil until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding 1/2 of the liquid mixture. Mix to combine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat with the remaining flour and liquid, ending with flour.
Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack to remove from the pan. Cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

Buttered Bourbon Glaze:
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoon bourbon
1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

To make the glaze, melt and slightly cool the butter. Whisk in the confectioner’s sugar and bourbon until smooth and free of lumps. If too thick, you can add a few more drops of bourbon until it reaches the desired consistency. Drizzle or pour over the top of the completely cooled cake and allow the glaze to dry before serving.

Check out this bounty of boozey bundts! They all sound amazing, and I can’t believe how much our group is growing!

Anisette and Orange Bundt Cake by Samantha at Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Apple Bundt Cake with Whiskey Salted Caramel by Lauren at From Gate to Plate
Baba au Rhum by Terri at Love and Confections
Banana Bourbon Bundt Cake by Linda at Brunch with Joy
Champagne Soaked Cranberry Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
Chestnut and Rum Kugelhopf by Jelena at A Kingdom for A Cake
Chocolate Baileys Bundt Cake by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
Chocolate Chambord Mini Bundt Cakes by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
Chocolate Guinness Bundt by Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen
Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake with Kahlua Glaze by Tanya at DessertStalking Blog
Coffee Baileys Bundt Cake by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
Frangelico and Fig Bundt Cake by Victoria at Just One Bite Baking
Gin and Tonic Bundt by Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Gingerbread Rum Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
Grand Marnier and Chocolate Chips Bundt Cake with Seville Orange Sauce by Anna at Media racion doble, Por Favor
Grand Marnier and Tangerine Bundt Cake by Caro at En la Cocina de Caro
Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake by Patricia at Patty’s Cake
Irish Coffee Bundt Cake by Laura at The Spiced Life
Kentucky Bourbon Cake by Cassie at Cassie’s Kitchen
Lemon Rum Bundt by Catherine at Living the Gourmet
Limoncello Bundt Cake by Natalia at Principiando en la Cocina
London Porter Bundt with Lemon Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
Peach Brandy Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
Pomegranate and Chocolate with Rum Glaze by Rocio at Kidsandchic
Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
Rum Pudding Cake by Rebekah at Making Miracles
Rum Raisin Apple Bundt by Maleka at La Luna en Dulce
Southern Sweet Potato, Bourbon, and Pecan Bundt by Margaret at Tea and Scones
Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
Tangerine Screwdriver Mini Bundts by Kelly at Passion Kneaded

Interested in learning more about us? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.