Creamy Coq Au Riesling

Being a food blogger means that I’m part of a fantastic community. It also means that I have a “list of things to cook/bake” that’s several feet long. Whether I’m researching for a post or just plain gawking on food photo sharing sites, I routinely come across recipes that look just too darn good to pass up on and they almost always end up in a list or on a Pinterest board for future reference. I would love to say that I do indeed find the time to make them all, but that would be a big fat lie, wouldn’t it?

This recipe from The Blonde Chef is one I made an exception for. It looked delicious in her pictures and then when she describes it as “basically the best thing I’ve ever tasted”, that settled it for me. I had to make it. And I did. It’s no surprise that this beautiful creamy Coq Au Riesling (Coq Au Vin Blanc) is such a classic!

I made this dish as part of a really fun Blog Hop challenge that also involved several other food bloggers, where we each make another blogger’s dish/recipe according to a pre-determined list. So I get assigned one blogger, mine gets assigned to someone else, and so on.

Aubrie, the blogger behind The Blonde Chef, has a passion for food and photography and it shows in her work. She captures stunning pictures of all the delicious and healthy dishes she features on her blog and I spent hours combing through her recipes and couldn’t decide on one to make. They all looked fantastic. So finally I recruited Mr K’s help in deciding and eventually it came down to her Thai Hot and Sour Soup and the Coq Au Riesling. Here in Missouri, fresh sea food isn’t readily available (there’s plenty of frozen stuff, which just goes “rubbery” more often than not in a beautiful broth), so we decided on the latter.

Coq Au Riesling is a classic French dish and it’s essentially chicken braised in wine. In addition to the wine, you got onions, bacon, garlic, mushrooms and herbs here and the result is a beautifully cooked, moist, exceptionally tender and flavourful chicken in a hearty gravy. I made a few changes to Aubrie’s recipe – instead of chicken breast and drumsticks, I used 2 marylands (that’s two pieces of attached thigh and leg) that I then separated into 4 pieces. And we paired it with our favourite French bread.

Because I used less chicken than what her recipe called for, I also used comparably less cream. And instead of Pancetta, I used thinly sliced bacon, chunky Russett potatoes instead of fingerling potatoes and also thyme and parsley instead of sage. Apart from those superficial changes, I followed her recipe exactly.

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5 from 3 votes

Creamy Coq Au Riesling {Coq Au Vin Blanc}

Author: Dini K.

Servings: 4 servings

Print Rate

Ingredients:

• ▢ 1/2 large yellow onion finely diced
• ▢ 1 cup of finely chopped bacon
• ▢ 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• ▢ 3 garlic cloves minced
• ▢ 2 chicken thighs 2 chicken legs
• ▢ 1 cup of Swiss brown mushrooms Baby Bella mushrooms or Brown mushrooms, sliced
• ▢ 1 tbsp chopped thyme
• ▢ 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• ▢ 2 cups Riesling white Wine a good wine that you like to drink as well
• ▢ ¾ cup heavy cream
• ▢ 2 medium russet potatoes
• ▢ 2 tsp ground black pepper
• ▢ Salt if needed to taste.

Roux

• ▢ 4 tbsp butter
• ▢ 4 tbsp flour

To Garnish

• ▢ Chopped parsley

Serve with

• ▢ Fresh French bread
• ▢ Butter

Instructions:

• In a thick bottomed pan (I used a lidded cast iron skillet), heat the oil on medium-high heat.
• Season the chicken with salt and pepper and when the oil is hot, brown the chicken pieces in the pan, on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside. Drain the fat used to brown the chicken.
• In the same pan, add the onion and bacon and fry until the onion has turned translucent and the bacon has rendered all the fat. Add the chopped garlic and saute for a few minutes.
• Add the mushrooms and herbs and cook this for another 5 minutes.
• Remove the mushrooms/onion/bacon from the pan.
• Add the 4 tbsp of butter and let it melt. Sprinkle the flour and whisk to form a smooth paste. Keep stirring this paste for about 2 minutes on medium heat without letting it brown, to cook the flour.
• Return the mushroom/bacon/onion mix to the pan and add the Riesling. Mix till smooth and add the Chicken and Potatoes (cut into chunks). Bring the mix to a boil.
• Reduce the heat and simmer on low heat for about 15 -20 minutes, or until the chicken & potatoes are cooked through.
• Stir in the cream last, and let it heat through for another few minutes.
• Serve immediately with chopped parsley on top and toasted French bread on the side.

Tips & Tricks

Note - It was pointed out if the gravy would be too thick with 4 tbsp of flour - If the gravy is too thick, you can absolutely add some chicken stock or water to thin it out. (I did not need to do that when served immediately), however it does thicken greatly as it cools down.

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

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We loved it! I haven’t really made a savoury dish this creamy before, so it was definitely new. The chicken is incredibly tender, almost falling off the bone tender like she describes it in her post, and the French bread was perfect for soaking up the delicious gravy. The flavour of the wine is also very apparent in the dish, so make sure to use a good quality wine. The bacon, mushroom and thyme were subtle in flavour in comparison but still contributed to a truly fantastic flavour profile overall.

We had this for dinner with a glass of the same Riesling wine that we used to cook the dish and it made for one amazing weekend dinner. Actually make that two, because we had enough leftovers for dinner the next day too! It’s a comforting, hearty meal that you can enjoy all year-round.

So thank you Aubrie for sharing this awesome recipe that made our weekend that much more special! I have already started looking at other recipes on your blog to see what I’m going to make next! 🙂

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