sticky summer supper club (Recipe: Coq au Frivolo)

About a week ago, on a particularly sticky and swampy Texas Sunday evening, I riffed on a recipe previously tried (and loved) by on the of the OG Domestic Goddess’, Nigella Lawson. I didn’t grow up on French cooking by any stretch of the imagination, and I didn’t attempt Julia Child’s coq au vin until my Grandmama gifted me her work first edition of ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ about a decade ago. Ms. Lawson does a smash-bang job of a summer facelift for the tried and true stew with her Coq au Riesling as posted on the New York Times page. I’ve made her version at least twice and it’s a tasty one. On this particular sweltering evening, the dish sounded delicious, but I had not pre-shopped for it exactly…

This is also the part of the story where I break script and get to tell you about one of our absolute favorite wineries – get excited, y’all, they’re going to be your favorite too! A million years ago, when I was a general surgery resident in California, we visited the Amador region on a rare Saturday off. The gem of the day, and as I recall one of our last stops was Vino Noceto. After an amazing visit drinking wine and talking college football with one of the proprietors for the better part of an hour, we were hooked. As soon as we got me moved back to TX and set up house proper, we immediately subscribed to the Big Nuts club and have been members ever since. To this day, I keep a strong supply of their Sangiovese as well as a good smattering of their single vineyards and other varietals in the cellar. I can’t say enough good things – and for those who know me, you know how much I love my wine!

One of the specialty house wines that Vino Noceto make is their Frivolo – a moscato with a little bit of sassy fizz. Again, if you know me, I like my wine as dry as I do my humor. We have a few bottles of Frivolo in the cellar (from combo packs and mystery cases), and I’ve struggled with how to best use them. (Note: the hubby, who has more of a vino sweet tooth than me, recommends a heavily chilled bottle in a pool on a hot day with a long straw. It’s his, and many other’s cup of tea to a tee.) From this conundrum was born Coq au Frivolo; and even though I’ve only made it once, I think it’s worth the share.

Coq au Frivolo

8 slices of thick cut bacon (I like the campfire varietal with a little smokey spice to it)

Olive oil (not extra virgin this time, just the good old workhorse)

3 sweet onions, peeled and chopped into thin half-moons

8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1-2 Tbsp ground poultry seasoning

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

6-8 oz (one of the little square containers) of white button mushrooms, chopped

6-8 oz cremini/oyster/shitake mushrooms, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin

1-2 Tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried tarragon

1 bottle (750 mL) Frivolo (or other sweetish, white wine)

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

Fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional, but why would you not?!)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. **Note from the short cook: if you have a double wall oven, odds are that the top one is your sexy convection oven. This ends up being a heavy pot meal. For the sake of your arms and back, consider using the lower oven for this one. True, you might have to dial up the temperature to reach true 300 (you’ve got a thermometer in there, don’t you?!), but it’s worth avoiding possible pain and burns.
2. Find your biggest cast iron or other flameproof baking dish that has a lid and place over medium-low heat. Add a little olive oil until it shimmers ever so slightly. Cut your bacon into one inch pieces and spread in a single layer (as best possible) in the pan to render as much bacon fat as possible. Stir and flip the bacon occasionally and then remove with a slotted spoon and let it hand out on a paper towel nearby. You’ll need it later. Keep all of the oil/grease in the pan. Yes, all of it. Get down with your bad self!
3. Season your chicken aggressively with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the poultry seasoning. Working with a few pieces at a time, brown the chicken pieces on both sides in the bacon fat/olive oil mixture. Don’t crowd the pan or let the chicken pieces touch while cooking or they won’t get all crispy and brown. They don’t have to cook all the way through – this is just for the gorgeous color and flavor afforded by the Maillard reaction. Set the browned pieces aside and repeat with all of the chicken thighs.
4. There should be a decent bit of oil/fat still in the bottom of the pan (along with lingering bits of chicken and such), but if it looks like it needs a little more, add some olive oil. Throw in the sliced onions and a heavy pinch of salt and then cook on medium until the onions are soft and starting to break down (15-20 min). You don’t want to brown or caramelize them, just “sweat” them.
5. When the onions are soft and slimy and smell amazing, add the mushrooms and dried herbs. Turn up the heat to med-high here for a couple minutes until the mushrooms are good and coated in the fat. Add the garlic and half of the bacon to the pan and continue to sauté until there’s not much liquid left.
6. Pour in the Frivolo (yes, the whole bottle!) Because of the carbonation in the wine, you may need to go slow. Use your wooden spoon to scrape the cooked on tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. Nestle in the chicken pieces into a relative single layer within the mixture and sprinkle the remaining bacon over the top. Sprinkle on about half of the fresh herbs at this point. Turn off the burner, put the lid on it, and transfer the whole dish (with hand protection – this pot is HOT!) into the waiting oven. Open a cold bottle of Frivolo (or something else, if you prefer) and pour yourself a glass.
7. Cook down for 1.5-2 hours at 300 degrees F. Top with the remaining fresh herbs +/- grated parmesan cheese prior to service. This dish pairs equally well with pasta as it does potatoes. It freezes and reheats well.

Cheers, y’all!