Raymond Blanc's Coq au Vin recipe

This is a dish that sums up French cuisine; slow, careful cooking of simple ingredients to make a rich, deep-flavoured dish

Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5kg (3¼lb) organic or free range chicken, cut into 10 pieces (you could ask your butcher to do this)1 tbsp plain flour, heaped

2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and ground black pepper

For the marinade

1l (1¾ pints) full-bodied red wine, such as shiraz

3 medium carrots, cut into slanted slices 1cm (½in) thick

2 celery sticks, cut into slices 1cm (½in) thick

20 baby onions, peeled but left whole

1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed

1 bouquet garni (a few parsley stalks, 2 bay leaves and 6 sprigs of thyme, tied together)

For the garnish

1 tbsp olive oil

200g (7 oz) smoked streaky bacon, rind removed, diced

400g (14 oz) small button mushrooms, trimmed

1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Marinating the chicken

Bring the red wine to the boil and boil until reduced by a third. Leave to cool.

In a bowl, mix the chicken pieces, carrots, celery, baby onions, peppercorns and bouquet garni together and pour the cooled red wine over them.

Cover with cling film, refrigerate and leave to marinate for 24 hours.

Place a colander over a large bowl and put the mixture in it to drain off the marinade. Leave for one hour. Separate the chicken, vegetables and herbs, and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Season the chicken with four pinches of salt and four pinches of black pepper. Reserve the liquid.

Toasting the flour

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Sprinkle the flour on a baking tray and cook in the oven until very lightly coloured. Set aside.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150C/300F/Gas 2.

Frying the chicken

On a high heat, in a large, heavy-based casserole, heat the olive oil and colour the chicken pieces in it. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Add the drained vegetables and herbs to the casserole. Lower the heat to medium-high and cook until lightly coloured.

Making the sauce

Spoon out most of the fat from the casserole, add the toasted flour and stir into the vegetables for a few seconds. On a medium heat, whisk in the wine marinade little by little. Bring to the boil and skim any impurities from the surface. The wine marinade will be slightly thickened and have the consistency of a light sauce. Add the chicken pieces and return to the boil. Cover with a lid and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Finishing the sauce

If you wish you can serve the coq au vin as it is. But should you prefer a richer, more powerful sauce, drain it through a colander and, on a high heat, boil the sauce until it has reduced by one third. It should have become a rich, vinous colour. Pour the sauce back over the chicken and vegetables.

Cooking the garnish

Over a medium heat, in a medium non-stick frying pan, heat the olive oil and cook the diced bacon in it for 30 seconds. Add the button mushrooms and cook for a further four minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix the diced bacon and button mushrooms into the coq au vin. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve piping hot.