Coq au Vin!

Les américains ne peuvent pas faire coq au vin correctement!

Sadly this turned out to be somewhat true - I was not overly impressed with the outcome of this experiment.  The resulting dish wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything special either, and it was fairly labor intensive for something so mediocre.

It was partially my fault - I've wanted to make this ever since seeing the relevant Good Eats episode but I wasn't all that interested in the rather extreme prep time (2 days, really?) and couldn't get my hands on a couple of the suggested ingredients... so I went with a much quicker and easier recipe.  I made some modifications (like omitting the mushrooms, since I didn't have any on hand)

Hardware:
1 large oven-proof dutch oven or similar

Software:
4 ounces bacon, diced
1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut in 8ths
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 pound celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bottle (375 ml) dry red wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
Thyme (fresh is better, otherwise 1 tablespoon dried)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.  Cook the bacon in your dutch oven over medium-high heat until browned; remove to paper towels to drain.  Working in batches, season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown in the pan, removing to towels to drain.  Once all the chicken is cooked, add the mier poix to the pan along with a heavy pinch of salt and cook over medium heat until the onions are translucent.  Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more, then add the wine, the broth, the herbs, and return the chicken and bacon to the pan.  Cover and remove to the oven, baking for 30-45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove to the stovetop.

Melt the butter in a bowl and whisk together with the flour.  Stir the mixture into the dish, check seasoning, serve. 

Can be served over egg noodles or rice, or with hearty bread.

Like I said above, the final product wasn't terrible, but was pretty 'meh' especially considering the effort involved.  I may try again someday and make the 'proper' 2 day version just for comparison, although it would have to be pretty fantastic to justify that amount of work.