Expect the Unexpected: thrown together Coq au Vin

Though I woke up with my usual Monday Malaise, I tried to shake it off. It was a beautiful morning with a clear purple sky.

Warm winds were blowing from the desert keeping the clouds away and the humidity down.

Oh, wait. Did I mention I was able to take these pictures because my cat didn’t get the note to change her clock. She started walking on me at about 4 am. A hectic week awaited me, but I was determined to make the best of it.  I went to Zumba and the first song was Gangnam Style. Things were looking up.  If you haven’t seen the video, take a look. The cowboy is my favorite. I appreciate his enthusiasm. I needed it.

( This all happened over a week ago but it still seems relevent.) Tuesday rolls around, and I don’t know if you heard, we have an election going on today. And more importantly (just kidding–VOTE!) it’s my husband’s birthday week so I agreed to take his mother to outpatient surgery very early in the morning, very far away. While I was escorting her to the car, I noticed a bag by the door. When I asked her if she needed it, she said it was for her to spend the night at out our house since she has to be rechecked  the next day in the very early morning, very far away.  And this is where the thrown together Coq au Vin comes in since I had about twenty other things to do which didn’t include cleaning the guest room. We use it as a spare closet.

I belive there is an earlier post about piles of laundry and the guest room. Call it foreshadowing. Wilma (mother-in-law) came home very disoriented. The surgery was a few hours  more than any of us expected. Russ and I tag-teamed. I dropped off and Russ picked up.  We’ve been doing this for years and don’t wait. Wilma has a lot of surgery and we’ve learned to pace ourselves.  The doctors and nurses are really great about calling and keeping us posted. The recipe is coming up, but I’ve been wanting to add a little commentary for people taking care of an elderly parent, or another family member with a chronic illness. Thus the title Expect the Unexpected. You all know that so give yourselves a big hug.

Here is the recipe taken from MAKE IT FAST, COOK IT SLOW by Stephanie O’Dea, haphazardly made my way so I could vote later that day.

I pulled out frozen boneless skin-less chick thighs, something I always keep on hand.  Plugged in the 4-quart Crock-Pot.  Set it on low and tossed in everything  I had on hand. I had mushrooms but I had to pick through a bunch that were too far gone to be salvaged.  Didn’t have the key ingredient of bacon which Stephanie O’Dea starts with.  I decided to get it started anyway but here are the ingredients in order.

ingredients:

6 slices of cooked bacon

6 t0 8 chicken thighs

8 ounces mushrooms

1 cup carrots

1 yellow onion

garlic

salt

pepper

half cup chicken broth

1  1/2 red wine

2 large thyme sprigs (I grow thyhme in a pot on my patio. Thyme is hardy and doesn’t mind too much being neglected.)

Stephanie O’Dea recommends cooking on low for 8 hours. I didn’t think I had time to do this so I did too much time on high. I thought  Wilma would be ravenous after her surgery, but she was just ready for bed and a sip of canned chicken noodle soup.

Russ and I voted at our new polling place in the dark but with no lines and a very efficient process.

My use of high and low made the chicken shred too much. We served it over Russ’s homemade mashed potatoes. The taste was great but I suggest the slower cooking.  I added a lot more wine and a bit more chicken broth. I put the bacon in after I got the rest started but I think it would have been fine if I hadn’t rushed it.

Give Coq au Vin a try. I’ve served it to guests when I did it right and it was a big hit. Russ’s mashed potatoes are always a hit. Maybe I can coerce him into giving the recipe for public consumption.