Foodie Friday~Quickie Coq au Vin

My first Foodie Friday!

  I love to try new recipes and tweak them to what I have on hand or prefer.  So each Friday, mu hope is to bring a new recipe that I have tried with thumbs up all around!

Today I am featuring Quickie Coq au Vin. 
The original recipe takes quite awhile with a lot of ingredients.  I have made it that way a couple of times and it was great.  However, I don't always have those pricier ingredients or the time.  I stumbled across a recipe in the February issue of the Rachael Ray magazine called Chicken with Wine [which was kind of a boring title in comparison to her usual extra-perky titles..side note..back on track!]

So here is mine and how I altered it.

 

First, I didn't pound the breasts, I cut them into chunks.  To me, when there are random pieces running through a dish, it gives the illusion there is more meat in there.  I am always trying to stretch my meat co$t.  I also didn't flour coat the chicken.

Second, I sauteed the shallots [and I added garlic] with the mushrooms.  After they were browned, I added the chicken chunks and browned them, too.  To quote one of my faves from the Food Network, Anne Burrell, "Brown Food Taste GOOOOD!".

I decided to make this more of a pasta dish and added linguine to the ingredient list.  Save a cup or so of the starchy cooking liquid.  It makes a great sauce stretcher.  Add as needed at the end.

I didn't have fresh thyme so I used a new grinder that contains an herb blend.  I got it from Aldi's and it is a new fave right now.

To add a bit of freshness, and because I had a nice bunch waiting to be used from my last grocery bag I got from Front Porch Produce,  I added some snipped parsley.  I used my kitchen shears that can be cleaned in the dishwasher.  Super easy.

So here are the ingredients I used:

• fresh cracked salt and pepper 
• your favorite herb blend to add a little flavor 
• 3-4 Chicken tenders, diced into chunks [and I used frozen because that was what was on sale]
• a few swirls of extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 package mushrooms, sliced [more if you have them!]
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped 
• 2 or more cloves of garlic, shredded on a microblade or finely diced
• 1 cup red wine [I used a sweet red because I am just learning to like red..so far this is the only one I have loved..]
• 1 cup chicken stock [broth will do okay but get stock in a box if you can..better yet, make your own..and make me some, too, while you are at it!]
• a tablespoon of flour stirred into some of the chicken stock and added
• snipped fresh herbs like parsley 
• linguine, boiled to just under al dente in highly salted water

After I browned the chicken, I added in the red wine, stock & flour-stock to deglaze the pan and get all those great brown bits up.  Let it reduce for maybe 5 minutes at an almost boil to cook the flour taste out and evaporate the alcohol.  I add in the pasta and let it soak up the sauce and finish cooking in the chicken-mushroom-wine mixture. If needed, add some of the pasta water to stretch the sauce and thicken it, too. Snip the parsley when on the plate or the last minute to keep it fresh.
To really change it up and boost the healthy affect, you could add in some additional veggies like green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, slivered carrots...hmmm... We'll have to try that next time!

Let me know if you try this out and what you think!

John gave it a thumbs up and even my 3 & 1 year old liked the chicken and pasta! 

Enjoy!