One of the best things about weekends is having the time to bake. Most Sundays I’ll put something (or a few things) in the oven and relax while the smells waft from the kitchen. Baking or roasting usually involves just dumping a whole heap of ingredients into a casserole dish, and mixing it around every 30 minutes or so to make sure everything cooks through and browns nicely.
Isn’t it just awesome when family and friends gift you fresh food from their own gardens! I was gifted with some beautiful thyme from a friend’s Mum so I had to make Coq Au Vin (chicken in wine). Thyme would have to be one of my favourite herbs and the more of it, the better in this beautiful traditional French recipe.
Put the onion, garlic, mushrooms, chicken, thyme and wine together in a large high-rimmed roasting tray / casserole dish. To keep all the little stalks together, I tie the thyme into two bunches with kitchen twine and then shove them underneath the chicken legs.
If you are avoiding alcohol, you are welcome to replace the wine with a stock of your choice. It will still be delicious but it won’t have exactly the same taste.
Cover with foil, and roast at 200o celsius (392o fahrenheit) for an hour, then take the foil off, roast for a further hour, rotate the legs so that they brown all over and roast for a further 45 minutes.
While the chicken is roasting, prepare the broccoli and potatoes and put them on to boil. While they are coming to the boil, take the casserole dish out of the oven. Gently scrape the thyme leaves off of their stalks (use tongs to do this) and then fish out the leftover bunches and discard.
You can keep the chicken legs whole but I prefer to remove the bones. Use two tongs to pull the meat off (save the bones to make bone broth). Mix through so that all the meat is covered in the sauce and evenly distributed
Roast for a further 15 minutes while the veggies are finishing boiling.
When the potatoes are fork-tender (i.e. you stab them with a fork and they easily slide off), take the veggies off the stove top. Drain the veggies and mash with a stick-blender (or if you like it chunky – mash by hand). Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
Serve a large spoonful of mash with a generous amount of the fragrant roast chicken and wine sauce.
This dish makes at least 8 servings and freezes extremely well! Divide the mash and chicken up into glass containers. Great for lunch or dinner!
Coq Au Vin (Chicken in Wine) with Broccoli Mash
Ingredients
- Coq Au Vin
- 2 kilos free range chicken legs
- 300 grams button mushrooms
- 4 brown onions peeled and chopped in half
- 6 cloves of garlic peeled and roughly diced
- 40 grams fresh thyme
- 4 homemade stock pucks or 1 cup of chicken stock
- 750 ml red wine of your choice
- Broccoli Mash
- 1 large head of broccoli
- 3 large purple potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel and cut onions in half and lay into a high-rimmed large non-stick casserole dish / roasting tray.
- Place the chicken legs into the dish.
- Roughly chop garlic cloves and sprinkle on top.
- Wash and place mushrooms evenly around the dish, pushing some underneath the chicken legs.
- Place in stock pucks or pour over the chicken stock.
- Split the thyme into two even bunches and tie with kitchen twine. This will keep the sticks together and make them easier to remove later.
- Push the thyme bundles under the chicken legs.
- Pour over the wine.
- Cover the dish with foil and place on the middle shelf of your oven.
- Roast at 200 degrees celsius (392 degrees fahrenheit) for 1 hour.
- After an hour take off the foil and roast for a further 1 hour.
- Using a pair of tongs, rotate the chicken legs so that the other side can brown and roast for a further 45 minutes.
- Wash and chop the broccoli. Peel and chop the potatoes. Place veggies with the teaspoon of salt together in a large, heavy based pot and cover veggies with water.
- Place the pot with the lid on onto the stove top on high and bring to the boil.
- Take the casserole dish out of the oven. Gently scrape the thyme leaves off of their stalks (use tongs to do this) and then fish out the leftover bunches and discard.
- You can keep the chicken legs whole but I prefer to remove the bones. Use two tongs to pull the meat off (save the bones to make bone broth). Mix through so that all the meat is covered in the sauce and evenly distributed.
- Roast for a further 15 minutes while the veggies are finishing boiling.
- When the potatoes are fork-tender (i.e. you stab them with a fork and they easily slide off), take the veggies off the stove top.
- Drain the veggies and mash with a stick-blender (or if you like it chunky – mash by hand). Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve a large spoonful of mash with a generous amount of the fragrant roast chicken and sauce.
Notes
- Replace the potato with white sweet potato, parsnip, cauliflower or another head of broccoli for a lower carb option.
- Separate servings into glass containers and freeze for future meals.
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LOVE the idea of the broccoli mash, I have been experimenting with different purees/mashes but never thought to use broccoli! (It seems so obvious now!) I will actually be trying this tomorrow with my Beef Bourguignon instead of my usual carrot and potato mash! <3
Broccoli mash would go awesome with Beef Bourguignon! <3 Make sure to add in the whole broccoli - stem and all 🙂
Looks sooooo good Kattie ! Could you use boneless chicken thighs? The flavour might not be quite the same without the bones… I’m thinking of attempting this but I’m not a huge fan of drumsticks or pulling bones out of stuff. Lazy me 😛
Boneless thigh would work just as well Belinda 🙂 I doubt there would be much taste different as the wine, stock, thyme and mushrooms is what makes the sauce awesome!