Cheating France

If the French knew what I did to one of their traditional recipes I would most likely be hanged. But I live in America where making everything beyond easy is the norm. Just don’t tell the French.


Friday night was deemed movie night and “Midnight in Paris” was on the menu. As I let French music trill into my kitchen I pondered what to make for dinner. My pots and pans were screaming for a French meal. However my crockpot won. French gourmet in the crockpot. Coq Au Vin in the crockpot. Oh yes, you read that right.

I thought I was outsmarting the system. I thought it would be a cinch. I thought I wouldn’t be sweating over ingredients, furiously dicing over the flames. I thought wrong. The French haven’t knotted my noose but they sure did leave some bacon grease burns on my poor hands. I have also verified that my smoke detectors work very well. Very. Well. Do you have an amusing mental picture yet?

Bacon burns aside, I would say this first foray in crockpot gourmet was successful. I promise you would have never guessed that it was cooked in a slow cooker. Plus you only have to slave for say 30 minutes instead of 3 hours. Just make sure your smoke detectors have fresh batteries for lovely background music. My Parisian music apparently wasn’t cutting it.

Crockpot Coq Au Vin

Ingredients

• free range cut up chicken
• 10 pearl onions, peeled
• Half pound cremini mushrooms
• 2 cups cabernet sauvignon
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt, pepper
• Bacon
• Bay leaf
• 1 cup chicken broth

Directions

In your skillet cook bacon over medium heat until browned. Place on a plate of paper towels and blot dry.

While the bacon cooks (and hopefully doesn’t spit at you) add your mushrooms, bay leaf and onions to the crockpot.

Toss chicken in salt and pepper and brown all sides in the bacon fat. I had to do this in a couple batches.

Add chicken into your crockpot. Pour wine and broth over the chicken, and add your bay leaf and garlic.

I cooked on high for 2 hours, low for 4.

Make sure to remove the bay leaf before serving!
Bon Appetit!