Nostalgic Coq au Vin (Rooster in Red Wine)

Ingredients:
• 1 large roasting chicken, capon, or rooster
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• Bouquet garni (a bundle of selected herbs tied together, such as a few sprigs of parsley and thyme, bay leaf, and a couple short stalks of celery with leaves)
• 2 bottles good red French Burgundy
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ¼ cup cognac
• 1 pint pearl onions
• ½ cup salt pork or bacon, diced
• ¾ pound cremini mushrooms or small white mushrooms
• Toasted baguette slices, if desired

Preparation:
Cut up a large roasting chicken, capon, or rooster and place pieces in a large bowl with yellow onions, shallots, carrots, garlic cloves, and a bouquet garni. Add wine, mix all ingredients thoroughly, and marinate for 24 hours. Remove chicken from marinade (reserve), pat dry with paper towel, season with salt and pepper, and brown in vegetable oil in a large, heavy skillet or casserole.

Remove chicken pieces from pan and set aside. Add flour to pan and cook, stirring, until flour browns. Return chicken to pan, pour in cognac, and remove pan from heat. Light cognac with match or lighter. When flames extinguish, return pan to burner, add marinade, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partly covered, until chicken is tender, 1½ to 2 hours for a large chicken or capon, 3 hours or longer for an old rooster.

Remove chicken from pan, strain sauce, and return chicken and sauce to pan. Simmer uncovered over low heat until sauce is reduced by half.

Meanwhile, boil pearl onions for about 10 minutes and drain. Sauté salt pork or bacon in a skillet until brown and crispy. Remove with slotted spoon and add to chicken. Sauté pearl onions and mushrooms in pork fat until lightly browned. Drain and add mushrooms and pearl onions to chicken. Serve with toasted slices of baguette.

— Recipe contributed by Jim Fergus

This Breakfast recipe was published in 'The Book Lover's Cookbook by 'Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet kay Jensen' - Ballantine Books'