Dear Charlotte:

I took your advice and went for the Coq au Vin…with some liberties.  I’m calling it Coq au Katie which looks really stupid when you type it out, but sounds less so when you say it aloud.

The hardest thing for me cooking is knowing when to deviate from the recipe, and when not to. My initial struggles with cooking were always because I felt a strong anxiety about deviating from what was recommended at every turn. I have since learned (with your help!) that some things are “oh, just guess about it till it feels right”.  So, that’s what I did for this.  Somehow the vegetables survived my Portland trip and were still good enough to eat when I got back, although the kohlrabi and I are going to stare each other down some other time. I’m going to give the recipe for what I ended up doing, followed by a bit of commentary.

Ingredients

• 5 chopped spring red onions (small)
• 1 large carrot (peeled and sliced)
• 10 oz baby bella mushrooms (stems removed and sliced)
• 2 chicken legs
• 2 small boules
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley
• 2+ tbs butter
• 15 pearl onions
• 1/2 bottle 2-Buck-Chuck pinot grigio
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• salt
• pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• avocado oil

Directions:

1 )Season chicken with salt and pepper (I used about 1/2 tsp of each) and place into a large ziploc with the wine, thyme, and bay leaves. Let sit in the fridge overnight

2 )Take the chicken out of the marinade and put in a pot with some avocado oil to brown, but save the wine. Brown the chicken for about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Remove the chicken from the pot, but leave the oil and drippings.

3 )Toss into the pot the red onions, mushrooms, and carrot . Cook for a few (5ish) minutes until the veggies begin to brown or start looking a little transparent.

4) Add the wine marinade and bring to a low boil.  Cover with lid and cook down for about 15-30minutes until about half the initial volume.

5 )Add the chicken back to the pot and cover.  Turn down the heat to a simmer, and let sit for about an hour.

6) Meanwhile, in another pan, melt some butter, and toss in the pearl onions.  Sauté until they look like you could eat them. Pull off heat, and let sit in the pan until you are ready for them.

7 ) Cut a cone-shaped hole into your boules. Spread butter on the inside and coat in shredded parsley. Toast in the oven for ~ 5 minutes or so at 300 degrees until…toasted.

8) Add pearl onions to the pot, followed by about a 1/4 cup of cream.  Stir around a bit.

9) Remove the boules from the oven and place on appropriately-sized plates (salad plates worked for me). Place into each a drumstick, and cover the drumstick with veggies and sauce.

Enjoy.

Commentary

Dude. This is the best thing I have ever cooked. I am really proud of myself on this one. It was super rich and savory and everything I like in food. But, if you compare to the recipe posted over at the NYT, you’ll notice some differences. First of all, in reading the description, I really liked the sound of the Alsace alternative, not the least because the day I did my shopping for extras for this, it had been raining for three days and I was running a bit of a fever. So, I bought some cream and a pinot grigio [8] (not the dry riesling mentioned) and decided that would be my first deviation. The reason I used a half-bottle is because I spilt half of it when putting it into the ziplock. However, a half-bottle is appropriate, given that I was only cooking the 2 chicken legs (they turned out not to be full quarters when I opened the package).

Meanwhile, you will also note that I am using avocado oil. This is not for some grand culinary purpose. It’s just what I have around the house these days. Olive oil–I’m sure–is fine. And probably more appropriate for this adventure. I just didn’t feel like buying something else.

We’re going to take a small detour into something I just discovered. I love being pedantic over stupid rules, but when a little red squiggly appeared under ‘grigio’, but not ‘pinot’, I had to go look this up.  These rules are clearly made up (apparently everyone’s rules on this differ), but at least these rules are implemented with some sense.  As a lover of rules, I’m going to attempt to adhere to them.

This week

So, I already have my box for this week, and hopefully it’s contents survive to cook what you suggest. We have begun transitioning into summer crops now, so I suspect fewer root veggies in the future.

• Salad
• Rainbow Chard
• Head Lettuce
• Dill
• Beets
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash