Anarchist Cooking Experiments
Mains
Coq-Casian Two-Way
Coq au Vin inspired braised Cajun/Asian Chicken and an oven braised variant. Served with vegetables over Glutenous Coconut Sticky Rice.
Prep time: 30 minutes – 1 hour (if you pre-make the spice blend and tamarind reduction)
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredient List for 4-6 people
8 pieces of chicken , skin on
6-8 shallots – coarsely chopped
4 large carrots
12 small white (or button) mushrooms (and/or chopped oyster mushroom if you can find them)
1 bunch Swish Chard stems (or 4 pieces of Celery or both)
2 bottles Pinot Noir or Carmenere (drinkable)
8 tbs (½ cup) Casian Spice Blend
1 cup vegetable stock
1 ½ cups of tamarind reduction*1
6 cubes of Pork Belly, (4 slices of Bacon will do)
4 bay leaves
The ingredient list is for both methods. Oven braising requires less liquid. I have included notes for both as well as tasting notes so choose whatever method you want or serve both.
Rub the chicken well with the Casian spice blend. Put aside and thoroughly clean your work area. (If you have the foresight, do this step the night before but remember to remove from fridge at least an hour before searing.)
Open one bottle of wine. Pour a glass. While drinking, prep your ingredients.
Once the prepping is done, melt pork fat in a large skillet at medium-high heat. Completely sear each piece of chicken, place on a plate. (searing in pork fat can get smoky so make sure you’re in a well ventilated kitchen or have a good fan.)
Oven Braising
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Pour a cup of wine in a roasting pan. Add ½ a cup of tamarind reduction and a ¼ cup of vegetable stock. Add chicken. Scatter ½ the shallots, carrots, mushrooms, and chard stems around the chicken. Add two bay leaves to the liquid. (you can add the left over pork fat cubes if they aren’t burnt) Place in heated oven. Let cook for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, stir, the veggies, place back into oven for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Remove from oven. Using tongs, place chicken on ½ a cup of glutenous sticky rice. Spoon veggies around the plate. Spoon on the remaining liquid. Serve with wine.
Stove-top Braising
Pour the rest of the wine into a pot. Add the tamarind and vegetable stock. Add the shallots, carrots, mushrooms and chard stems. Add chicken. Bring to boil. Add bay leaves, reduce heat and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes. Remove cover and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes allowing the liquid to reduce. Remove from heat. Open second bottle of wine. Place chicken on plate over ½ a cup of glutenous sticky rice. Scatter veggies and sauce around on plate, drizzling some on the chicken and rice. Serve with wine.
Experiment Notes:
I wanted to make something that used the Casian spice blend I had created as a dry rub for a pork tenderloin experiment. I guiltily admit the chicken was on sale at my local grocer and when I thought about it, the name of the dish just kinda stupidly came out and I knew I had to try it. I looked up the traditional way of making Coq au Vin then threw it out the window. Tradition is too often a barrier to advancement and tends to lead to progressively conservative views (read: controlling, narrow, and disunifying). Tradition is best observed the way one would honour a passed love one. You celebrate the stories, heed the lessons, pay your respects, and hopefully become a stronger more mindful person. Living tradition is like reading only one book over and over your whole life. It may be the greatest story ever told, but its not the only story out there and we all need some trashy fiction once and a while. Anyway, I digress (regularly). So taking the essence of Coq au Vin I put my own spin on it. Since I really didn’t know what I was doing I made quite the mess in preparing this recipe, but that’s part of the fun. I used vegetable stock and the tamarind reduction to add some complexity to the traditional wine base. I did actually marinate the chicken for an hour, but the flavour is greatly enhanced over time so marinate over-night or at least 4-6 hours in advance (experiment yourself, time does actually make a difference). I didn’t have celery but I did have a whole bunch of red swiss chard slowly decaying in the fridge, so I used the stems and put aside the wilted leaves for my next batch of veggie stock (nothing goes to waste) The wine… Well I made some notes on the wines which I posted separately. For cooking this recipe forget the overpriced French Burgundy, I really think a Carménère would work best. They tend to have less fruit, more pepper, and those yummy spicy notes.
Tasting Notes:
I couldn’t decide which way would be best to cook the dish I decided to half the recipe and try both ways. The differences between the two cooking methods were subtle the first night but more pronounced in the left overs. The oven braising kept the spices bound to the meat creating a better separation of flavours between the veggies and meat. The skin was slightly crispy and nicely blackened by the spices and the searing. The meat was marginally drier but the liquid in the pan keeps it quite moist and it had that roasted flavour and texture. The stove-top method resulted in juicier meat obviously but there is less separation between the flavours of the chicken and those of the veggies. Most of the spice ends up mixing with the sauce which created a really rich flavour not present in the roasting method. The coconut sticky rice complimented both recipes but the braised method provides more sauce to spread over the rice. The best method is the one the fits right with what you want.
In case you missed the links in the text above. I have made separate blog entries for my notes on the two wines I tried, as well as recipes for the Casian Spice Blend, Coconut Sticky Rice Gluten and tamarind reduction.
Cheers and enjoy!
-Robert Esposito
Cooking with Anarchy 