My mother, like most people of her generation that grew up in and stayed in Midwestern farm country, ate locally. That’s a ‘thing’ now but to her it was just life.
I was visiting her after my first trip over the pond, telling her about the wonderful things I saw and foods I ate. One of my favorite dishes had been a steak with morels. I was just about to explain to her what they were when she interrupted me and said she and her mother went out picking morels every spring…. And we should drive up into the hills and see if they were still there.
I sat corrected….
Coq au Vin, made with red wine, mushrooms, and shallots is a favorite fall / winter dish. Coq au Vin Blanc is more of a spring dish, with lighter white wine and morels.
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PrintCoq au Vin Blanc
Morels are found in wooded areas in the spring…. or dried in your supermarket anytime. This serves 4 – we had the leftover chicken & morels on mashed potato patties.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Marinate Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, cut up, skin removed
- 1 bottle dry white wine
- 1 bouquet garni
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 8 – 10 medium shallots, trimmed
- 10 – 12 morels, cleaned (see notes)
- 1 chicken stock cube or 1 tsp granular or paste chicken base, optional
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 tbs cornstarch (corn flour, maizena) dissolved in 3 tbs water (you may not use it all)
Instructions
- To marinate:
- Pour the wine over the chicken, add the bouquet garni and marinate 2 – 3 hours in the refrigerator.
- To cook the chicken:
- Remove chicken from wine and drain well (over wine). Reserve wine.
- Heat oil in heavy, deep pot over medium-high heat.
- Brown chicken on all sides, a few pieces at time, about 10 minutes.
- Return all chicken to pan and pour over reserved wine. (if using dried morels save 1 cup wine – see notes)
- Add nutmeg, bouquet garni and chicken base (if using).
- Cover, bring to a simmer, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
- To cook the vegetables:
- In a medium skillet sauté shallots until light brown.
- Add shallots and morels to chicken.
- Cover and simmer 30 minutes longer.
- To finish:
- Remove chicken from pan and place on a platter.
- Discard bouquet garni.
- Arrange morels and shallots around the chicken, cover to keep it all warm.
- Bring sauce to a boil over medium heat.
- Dissolve cornstarch in water. Slowly add to sauce, stirring until thickened to desired consistency.
- Spoon some sauce over the chicken, serve the rest on the side.
Notes
If using fresh morels: shake to remove any excess loose dirt. Then swish, gently, in a bowl of water to loosen and get rid of any trapped dirt. Gently dry by dabbing with kitchen towel.
If using dried morels: Soak 1 cup of wine plus enough water to cover if needed, for 30 minutes. Remove morels, swishing gently to get rid of any clinging dirt / sand.
Allow sand and grit to settle in wine used to soak morels, then carefully add the soaking liquid, without the grit, to the chicken.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
- Calories: 487
- Sugar: 2.7 g
- Sodium: 269 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.2 g
- Fiber: 1.7 g
- Protein: 61 g
- Cholesterol: 175.4 mg
If you prefer the red wine version: Coq au Vin.
Did you know?
Morels are not mushrooms.
They are fungi (like mushrooms) but a different division; the same one that truffles belong to.
No wonder I love them.
Anything truffle related has my name on it !
Moi aussi !
I have morel spores that I still haven’t planted. I need to plant them but I don’t have many places that are a good spot. Every time I think I have one, husband decides to do something there and that’s that. I think I’ve finally found a spot he won’t bother with, so I’ll try there and I’m going to order some more this year and plant them as well. Morels. One of those things, you know? “I go morel hunting every year.” “Oh, really? Where do you find them?” “sits back and smiles.” Yup, no one ever tells…
No ever tells about mushrooms, morels, truffles….. People will walk miles out of the way to keep others from finding their ‘spot’. I’ll just buy them – support local commerce and all. Much easier.
A friend in Andorra broke her leg while up in the mountains mushrooming. Of course no one knew where she was. She had to drag herself to the road to get help.