In an homage to the great Julia Child who I still love to watch on old reruns, I decided one day to challenge myself to make her iconic dish, Coq au Vin.
I learned by watching the master herself prepare this dish on her show The French Chef. After watching this episode a few times, I felt confident enough to head to the kitchen.
I learned a few things from Julia in addition to her recipe. First, this fancy-pants sounding dish is actually a stew. More comfort food than gourmet. Second, Julia is a good teacher, and you will not need a culinary degree to recreate this French dish at home.
I even made a gluten free beurre manié! Check it out!
Is Coq au Vin gluten free?
Except for the flour used to thicken the sauce, the ingredients are naturally gluten free!
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Ingredients:
- 6 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
- 3 slices of bacon, diced
- 1 carton (6 oz.) pearl onions, peeled and trimmed
- 1 carton (8 oz.) white button mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups red wine (use a wine to drink with dinner)
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp. thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 3 tbsp. butter
- 3 tbsp. arrowroot flour
Preparation:
Per the master herself, I started by poaching the bacon. According to Julia this step keeps the bacon flavor from overwhelming the entire dish. I don’t know if I would necessarily do this again other than for the sake of authenticity.

After the bacon was poached and drained, I browned it in a stainless-steel skillet and set it aside to drain on paper towels. The chicken was browned in the same pan, to take advantage of the bacon grease left behind.

For the next step, I moved the browned chicken and bacon to a nonstick sauté pan (you will need a pan with a lid), leaving the stainless-steel pan available for cooking the onions and mushrooms.
Here is where Julia adds the cognac and flambés the chicken. That’s not something I would be eager to try (imagining the smoke alarm going off!)
I added all of the wine, stock, tomato paste and seasonings. Honestly, there was a bit too much liquid and I would cut back next time. Julia did not add carrots in her recipe, but I went rogue and put a few in. Lid on, time to simmer!

Since my pearl onions were already peeled and trimmed, I was able to begin browning them in oil without all the prep work. After this step, I added water to the pan and simmered the onions for 30 minutes, after which they were removed and set aside.

For the next addition, I rinsed and quartered one 8 oz. carton of button mushrooms, cooking them in olive oil and butter.

Now, for the finale. To put it all together, I made the beurre manié (a/k/a kneaded butter). This was as easy as stirring together soft, room temperature butter with arrowroot flour until well incorporated.
I transferred all of the liquid from the sauté pan into a stock pot and whisked in the beurre manié until it was smooth and silky.
I added the onions and mushrooms to the sauce, then poured it over the chicken, bringing to a simmer one last time before serving.
There it is. So many little steps to develop the flavor profile of this famous dish. Yes, it was delicious. Yes, I will take a few shortcuts next time, but I do intend to make this again.

Notes ♪♫ I took a few (but not many) liberties with Julia’s recipe. I omitted the cognac, so no flambéing! 🔥While Julia used a whole fryer chicken and took great pains to explain how to cut it up, I opted for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. My grocer had pearl onions, already peeled and ready to cook (thank you!) so that was another tedious step that I was able to skip. Finally, I substituted arrowroot for the flour to make the beurre manié. With that, the recipe is gluten free!





Transfer to the prepared loaf pan and use a wet spatula to smooth the top out.
Bake for 1 hour and check the center with a toothpick. The top should be nice and golden brown.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift the loaf out of the pan by grasping both sides of the parchment paper (you’re welcome).
Remove the parchment and cool on a rack before slicing. Cover any leftovers in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes:
When the pan is hot, add the chicken and cook for 6-7 minutes per side, turning once.

I served it with
Notes ♪♫


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Spoon sauce over the veal shanks and garnish with Italian parsley.









Remove the sausage casings and cut the sausage into small pieces. Add to the skillet with the veggies.
When the sausage starts to brown, push the meat and veggies to the sides of the pan and add the tomato paste in the center.
Let it toast for a few minutes, then stir it into the sausage and veggies.
Add the wine, and saffron water, garlic, basil, oregano and bay leaf.
Let the wine cook off for a few minutes, then add the crushed tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Stir well, and simmer 30-45 minutes with the lid slightly ajar to allow the sauce to thicken as it cooks. Stir the sauce every 10 minutes while it simmers.
Serve this wonderful sauce over your favorite pasta and finish with grated cheese. Pecorino Romano is traditional with this dish, but you can use Parmigiano Reggiano.
Notes ♪
What about gluten?
Wait, no eggs?
Another unique feature.
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Whisk together the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in the infused liquid through a sieve, reserving the saffron threads.
Add the remaining water 1 tbsp. at a time until you have a very soft, smooth dough, like this.
Use a spatula to gather the dough into a ball, then cover and let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
Now roll each piece over the Malloreddus paddle, you can use your fingers or a bench knife. Be sure to keep the paddle generously floured as you work. A
Arrange the pasta on a lightly floured baking pan in a single layer. I lined mine with wax paper. At this point, you can cover the pasta with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until you are ready to start cooking.
For longer term storage, place the pan in the freezer for a few hours, then transfer the pasta to a freezer safe bag.

Ingredients:
Mist a muffin tin with cooking spray.
Bake for 15 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick, and if it comes out dry, they are done.
Brush the tops with melted butter, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Muffins can be stored at room temperature for one day, and any leftover after that can be frozen.
Yes, they are gluten free!
You are going to love this recipe!
This recipe is another of my experiments with blending these 2 flours together. I really think I have hit on the perfect flavor and texture of Italian Bread that I was looking for. You can use all bread flour if preferred.
Ingredients:
No stand mixer? You can combine everything in a large bowl with a
Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter (room temperature) overnight for 12-13 hours. I like to make my dough around 8pm, then shape the rolls while I’m having coffee the next morning, around 9am.
In the morning, preheat the oven to 475º with a 
Flour your work surface and gently roll each section into a torpedo shape (oval with tapered ends). Arrange them on a lightly floured baking sheet lined with parchment or use a 
Place in the oven and spray the rolls and sides of the oven with water to create steam. Bake for 35 minutes at 475º, then remove from the pan and bake directly on the stone during the last 10 minutes.
Rolls are done baking when the internal temperature reaches 210º. The crust should be firm and dry, and you will get that hollow sound when you give the rolls a sharp tap. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.
What would you do with a homemade, hot out of the oven Italian roll like this? Dip it in olive oil, or slather with garlic butter and toast it? Slice it thin for bruschetta? Maybe load it up with veggies, cold cuts and cheese to make a panino (a/k/a sub, hoagie)! And for big appetites, you can serve them as dinner rolls (mop up that sauce!) or sandwich rolls.
However you choose to enjoy them, these rolls are delicious!




Whisk together the dry ingredients (sorghum flour through salt).
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with the paddle attachment for 8 minutes to form a thick batter.





