Coq au vin, gallo en vino or cooking with wine. :)

We, Magda and Katy, decided to try a new recipe together and invited 2 friends. When we were doing our introduction interviews in class, Guillaume (the French guy from our group) stated that he missed the French coq au vin. Then when we were browsing the site BBC FOOD (worth checking out!) we came across a recipe for coq au vin, and since neither of us had ever eaten that dish, we decided to give it a try. We both tend to improvise when it comes to cooking, so it was a new challenge for us to stick to the recipe. Sounded like a huge ambition at first, but turns out it's really easy to cook! And we love cooking with wine anyway (sometimes we even put it in the Food). :)

And we assure you, we spoke English the entire time AND the recipe was in English too. Here is an input from me, Magda on the new vocab I learnt while cooking. Luckily we were able to find all the ingredients in the supermarket: a sprig of fresh thyme (the first word I was struggling with, but I found out that a sprig is a small stem with leaves on it), a small knob of butter (a small amount of butter), shallots, garlic cloves, bacon, mushrooms, wine, chicken, rosemary sprig, dried chilli flakes, olive oil and chopped fresh parsley. For the mashed potatoes we needed potatoes, milk, butter, sour cream and salt.

Link to the BBC Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/coq_au_vin_87115

Ingredients

For the coq au vin

1.5kg/3¼lb chicken, jointed

150g/5oz diced bacon or lardons

10 French shallots, peeled

a few thyme sprigs

1 rosemary sprig

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

3 tbsp olive oil

250ml/9fl oz white wine (we used red)

small knob of butter

350g/13oz mixed mushrooms (such as oyster and chestnut), sliced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

small handful chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

For the crème fraîche mash

800g/1¾Ib potatoes, peeled and chopped

150ml/5fl oz milk

25g/1oz butter

110g/4¼oz crème fraîche (or 110ml/4¼fl oz single cream)

sea salt, to taste

To use and practise the new vocabulary we got to know in the last few classes at university we tried to reproduce the recipe in our own words:

First we had to place the chicken pieces and the shallots in a large roasting tin (we didn’t have a roasting tin available, so we just used a baking tray, which worked as well). Then we seasoned the chicken and the shallots with salt, pepper, rosemary, chilli flakes and thyme, sprinkled the chopped bacon on everything and poured oil over it. Now the whole thing had to roast for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Meanwhile we fried the button mushrooms with garlic and butter in a frying pan and sprinkled chopped fresh parsley over them. After 20 minutes we added the mushrooms with the garlic to the chicken in the oven, pulled wine over it and let it roast for another 25 to 30 minutes. After cooking the potatoes we peeled them and mashed them with forks, because we didn’t have a stick blender (by the way: another new word). Milk and butter have to be heated in a pan and added to the potatoes afterwards. Then we added sour cream to the mixture (instead of créme fraiche) and seasoned it – the mashed potatoes were ready.

It was absolutely delicious, tender chicken, perfectly spiced, a créme-fraiche potato mash on the side, HEAVEN!! :)

We have highlighted the words or phrases that were new to us and put them in an explanatory list for you:

to joint a chicken -  to cut the meat at the joints (the junction between two or more bones) so as to separate into pieces

diced - cut into small cubes

lardons - a strip or cube of fat or bacon used in larding meat

shallots - small round vegetables that are the roots of a crop and are similar to onions

sprigs - small stems with leaves on it which has been picked from a bush or plant, especially so that it can be used in cooking or as a decoration.

flat leaf - a variety of parsley having flat leaves

Who am I?

Hi everybody,
I am always a bit helpless when it comes to describing myself, because firstly I tend to understate or exaggerate my skills and my characteristics and secondly, I don’t want to bother you with uninteresting facts about my hometown, my favourite meal an so own. So I got the idea of interviewing my sister about me. Go on reading if you want to find out more.
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Which three adjectives would you use to describe myself?
Adventurous, easy-going and helpful.

Why would you choose the three of them?
I would say adventurous, because you like to explore unknown territory and to try out knew things that you aren’t used to. In addition being around with you isn’t linked to a lot of stress, on the contrary it is relaxing, that’s why I decided to choose easy-going. And last but not least helpful, because if someone asks you for a favour you don’t hesitate to cooperate.

What would you say am I proudest of in my life?
I think that you are very proud about the 3 months in Sri Lanka, where you were working in a children’s home and of course you are proud to have an awesome little sister like me :P

What are my hobbies?
You are a really active person. In your free time you like to play tennis or to go jogging and you are really passionate about ski touring and hiking, that’s why you love your hometown, which lies on the food of a mountain. You appreciate spending time with your beloved and not to forget you are apassionate traveller.

My hometown

What’s my favourite place on earth?
Well, that’s a tricky question; I have in mind that you once told me that every place can be wonderful when you share it with the right people, so the implication is that you don’t have a specific favourite place.

What are my weaknesses?
That’s easy! Your cooking skills need a lot to be desired; especially when you are trying out knew things or improvise with various herbs and spices. Secondly, you are a bit impatient.
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My sister is very close to me, so she put it more or less into a nutshell. I hope the interview gave you a small insight into my life and who I am. If not, feel free to ask questions 