The perfect Valentine’s Day dinner at home: Coq Au Vin

Looking for the perfect Valentine's Day dinner at home?

Coq Au Vin...even the name has a certain 'je ne sais quoi' to it. It was pratically made to be Valentine's Day dinner.

If you haven't brushed up on your French since the hallowed halls of high school, all you need to know is that Coq Au Vin (co-co-va) is the perfect dish to cook up at home for love day.

Why Coq Au Vin is the best Valentine's Day meal

Why this dish out of the endless barrage of eats you've seen scrolling in prep to wow your v-day date? Well, It looks and feels super fancy. It's a classic French dish after all! Yet all you need to do is follow a few simple steps and have a little time to spare (aka eat a snack before you start because you can't go into this hungry).

A delicious chicken stew that features red wine, bacon, mushrooms, onions, carrots...all the good stuff.

Here's what you need to gather before you hit the kitchen this Valentine's Day...

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 lbs bacon
• 6-8 chicken thighs (ours from Feathered Acres Farms)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 lbs carrots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup (splash) of Ida Graves brandy
• 1.5 cups MinnTerra Red (or big splash)
• 1 cup chicken bone broth
• 8-10 sprigs thyme
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp corn starch (or flour)
• 1 lbs mushrooms (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to make this Valentine's Day dinner at home:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees - low and slow!
2. Clean and prep your veggies. No fancy cutting, just chop them up and move on with your life.
3. Pour a generous bit of olive oil in a large dutch oven and heat.
   • No dutch oven? Use a cast iron!
4. Cut up your bacon and add it to the dutch oven on medium for 10 minutes give or take - until lightly brown. Then remove to a separate plate.
5. Lay the chicken out, pat it dry with a paper towel and season that stuff! Salt and pepper should be measured by the heart.
6. Put the chicken in the dutch oven and brown it for about 5-ish minutes (turning over and making sure the sides are golden, we aren't cooking this all the way through because it's going in the oven)
7. Remove the chicken and put on the bacon plate.
8. Add the carrots and onions to the dutch oven. Sprinkle in salt & pepper and cook on medium for 10-ish minutes until the onions are looking lightly brown.
9. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
10. Add a splash of brandy
11. Grab the bacon, chicken, and throw back in the pot.
12. Add the MinnTerra Red wine, chicken stock, and thyme. Let it simmer!
13. Cover the dutch oven and put in the oven oven for about 40 minutes give or take
14. Take the pan out when the chicken is no longer pink.
15. Add the corn starch and butter to the stew so it thickens.
16. Add the mushrooms to the stew and stir.
17. Put the pot back into the oven and let it cook for about 10 more minutes.
18. Remove from oven, plate, and enjoy! And don't forget to turn off the oven, okay?

The best wine pairing for Coq Au Vin

For Coq Au Vin, you want a fruit forward, lighter red wine with a medium tannin level. Nothing too heavy or dry. So skip the Cabernet and pair it with something that is going to allow all of the Coq Au Vin flavors to shine. Pinot Noir is an excellent wine choice to pair with Coq Au Vin because it cuts through the richness of the dish and provides balance.

Secret Carlos Creek Winery experimental wine release

The red wine we paired with our Coq Au Vin was anything but ordinary. Carlos Creek Winery Head Winemaker Russ gifted us a sampling an unreleased experimental red blend and we knew it was going to be the perfect pairing for this meal. Although we can't spill any of the details yet, just know it's going to be the ultimate food-pairing wine.

Setting the mood: Valentine's Day dinner at home

Coq Au Vin is made for those slow moments at home. Now that you've done all the work of making an epic Valentine's Day meal, set the mood.

A little ambiance never hurt anybody. Light a few candles, set the table, and turn on the tunes. Olivia Dean's entire discography seems pretty perfect for the v-day vibe at home. Hit play and then pour a couple of glasses of red to your heart's content. Just like that you've got a timeless and elevated Valentine's moment at home.

Want more recipes, inspo, wine pairings, or musings on the meaning of life? Follow Carlos Creek on Facebook and Instagram!