New kitchen gadget

Ever since watching the movie Julie and Julia I desperately wanted a dutch oven to cook with. I have no idea how to make boeuf bourguignon (which was made in the movie), nor have I ever looked at the recipe, but I at least wanted to own the proper tools in case I wanted to make the dish.

As luck would have it I received a 7-quart, cherry red, cast-iron casserole dish by Martha Stewart as a gift recently. I couldn’t wait to try it out so I searched the web for some dutch oven recipes. There were lots of tasty sounding recipes, but that one that stood out the most was a twist on a traditional French dish Coq au Vin from the Food Network called Classic chicken in red wine.

For this meal I found a pack of quartered chicken with legs and thighs at Vons. The chicken was not butchered very well, so if I were to do it over again, I would buy one pack of legs and one pack of thighs rather than buying them still connected.

After getting all the ingredients prepared, I started by cooking the bacon in a little olive oil over medium heat. Any recipe that starts out with bacon is fine by me. In no time at my entire apartment took on the deep, smoky aroma of the delicious meat. Already off to a good start.

After the bacon was good and crispy, I set it aside on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the grease. Next I seasoned the chicken quarters with salt and pepper and in two batches I browned them in the oil and bacon fat. Then set them aside.

Once I drained a little of the grease I added the pearl onions, garlic and carrots. I decided to use Ukon Gold Potatoes instead of Russet Potatoes, so I added them a little later. I also didn’t want my mushrooms to get too soggy, so I added those in with the potatoes. I switched up the mushrooms too and got a half pound of button and a half pound of baby bellas.

The rest of the directions I followed straight from the recipe. After I braised everything for 40 minutes, I did leave the lid off for about 20 minutes to get the sauce to thicken a bit.

I served the chicken and vegetables with a big chunk of sourdough bread to slop up the tasty juices. The dinner was great the first night and just as good for leftovers the next night.

Bon appétit!