Coq Au Vin over Rosemary Grit Cakes

Got the Coq Au Vin recipe from dad, and made a few changes (added more wine!!). I actually started with a whole fryer chicken and quartered it myself.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon - cut in 1 inch squares

1 package of button mushrooms

2 cups of pearl onions

1- 4lb cut up chicken

Salt and Pepper

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 750 ml bottle of Pinot Noir ( I used Barefoot, $6.00 but decent and drinkable)

2 oz of tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Put bacon squares in a cast iron pan and render until crispy, but still tender. Remove from pan and save bacon for later.

Slice mushrooms in half, and place mushrooms and pearl onions in the bottom of a crockpot.

Shake salt and pepper on the chicken, and brown in the bacon renderings over medium to medium high heat, about 10 minutes. You might want to do this in two batches, as to not overcrowd the pan. Place the chicken in the crock pot on top of the mushrooms and onions when it is browned.

Reduce heat to a little lower than medium and add the chopped carrots and onions together. Stir to soak up the bacon goodness. Let them cook about 5 minutes, until the onions start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and stir for one minute. Add the bottle of wine, tomato paste and bay leaf and increase heat to medium high to bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the tomato paste.

Once mixture has started boiling, pour over chicken in the crock pot and cook out low for 8 hours.

Remove from crockpot and sprinkle with bacon.

Rosemary Grit Cakes:

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon rosemary

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons powdered garlic

1 tablespoon dried, chopped onions

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup Quaker quick cooking canister of grits

buttermilk, two eggs and cornmeal for breading

Bring the milk, rosemary, pepper flakes, garlic and onions just to a boil over medium heat. Once it starts to boil, stir in the grits and cheese. Stir constantly, so grits don't burn the bottom of the pan. Stir for about 2 minutes, adding more milk if need be, but mixture should be very thick, not soupy or creamy.

When grits have "risen", pour into a a 9 x 5 loaf pan and spread out to about 1 inch thick. Let cook, and place in the refrigerator until 20 minutes before Coq Au Vin is ready.

Remove grit cakes from fridge and cut in half (there should be two equal squares). Cut the squares diagonally.

Dredge the triangles in the cornmeal and set aside.

Mix two eggs and a splash of buttermilk.

Dredge the cornmeal covered triangles in the eggwash and then back in the cornmeal to coat.

Drop in a 375 degree oil until mixture turns golden brown.

Put two triangles on a plate and top with Coq Au Vin and juice.