Mexican Coq Au Vin

    Nope, I do not mean Coq au Vin with a Mexican twist. That would be gross. I am opposed to anything "with a Mexican twist". Just make Mexican food. I mean Coq Au Vin I made in Mexico City.
I was visiting my husband family in Mexico and somehow I was roped into making dinner for 12. In a small kitchen and at a high altitude. Also with a sophisticated group who spoke a language that I did not speak. What to do? Go with what you know, Coq au Vin. A no brainer, something I'm infinitely comfortable with and know the recipe well. I announced this dish with confidence and everyone grumbled with excitement. What I did not count on was shopping in a market in Mexico City. I found a chicken, it was whole and with the head on. My husband took care of that by explaining to the butcher how to chop it up. I found lovely french bread and after that it was down hill. I went with the idea of "Coq au Vin" more as a concept. That's what you have to embrace. It was more of an hommage or a literally translation: Chicken with Wine.
Here is the recipe I am comfortable with and the on the fly changes I made. Please note, in the end it was more of a "Chicken with White Wine and Peaches". Thank you Mexico City grocery stores for really flexing my culinary muscles. My notes are in red.

Coq au Vin Recipe 

(In this case "Chicken with White Wine and Peaches")

• 1/2 lb bacon slices  ( first problem, couldn't find bacon at all. I'm sure it was there but I couldn't find it so I skipped it. Bacon is for flavor and I would make it up elsewhere, you will need some kind of fat. Olive Oil or Butter, your choice)
• 20 pearl onions, peeled, or 1 large yellow onion, sliced (I used large Onion, that's what I found)
• 3 lbs chicken thighs and legs, excess fat trimmed, skin ON (Guess what? I don't like dark meat, I know! Not very chic, I included some chicken breasts cut in half)
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups red wine (pinot noir, burgundy, or zinfandel)( Here we go, I used white wine. That was what it was called too. "White Wine", this is when I realized I was headed completely out of the box)
• 2 bay leaves (skipped this, bay didn't seem to go with the "White Wine")
• Several fresh thyme sprigs More thyme! To make up for lack of Bay or Bacon, and I like fresh thyme. If you like a flavor it's OK to switch it out for something you do not like or for something you can't find.
• Several fresh parsley sprigs
• 1/2 lb button mushrooms, trimmed and roughly chopped OK, the mushrooms looked weird and slimey. I always picture the mushrooms beautiful and soaked in butter. What did they have? What could I use? I went with Peaches. They were beautiful and ripe. I cut them up as if they were going into a pie. Why not? 
• 2 Tbsp butter
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
• 1/2 cup of sliced black olives

METHOD

this serves about 12

1 Blanch the bacon to remove some of its saltiness. Drop the bacon into a saucepan of cold water, covered by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain. Rinse in cold water, pat dry with paper towels. Cut the bacon into 1 inch by 1/4 inch pieces. (you can just skip this whole step if you couldn't find bacon in a Latin Country)

2 Brown bacon on medium high heat in a dutch oven big enough to hold the chicken, about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked bacon, set aside. Keep the bacon fat in the pan. (Use your alternative fat source here) Working in batches if necessary, add onions and chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken well, on all sides, about 10 minutes. Halfway through the browning, add the garlic and sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. (Note: it is best to add salt while cooking, not just at the very end. It brings out the flavor of the chicken.)

3 Spoon off any excess fat. Add the chicken stock, wine, and herbs. Add back the bacon. (skip!)Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove chicken and onions to a separate platter. Remove the bay leaves, herb sprigs, garlic, and discard.

4 Add mushrooms to the remaining liquid and turn the heat to high. (peaches at this point) Boil quickly and reduce the liquid by three fourths until it becomes thick and saucy. Lower the heat, stir in the butter. Return the chicken and onions to the pan to reheat and coat with sauce. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with parsley  and Olives (Lots of Parsley) and serve.

Why the Olives? I like them, thought combined with the Peaches I could announce this as a "Mediterranean version. Because this combination made a lovely sauce I also served a wild rice pilaf to soak up juices, I also served French Bread and a Caesar Salad. Did they like it? I think so, I got wedding gifts fro most all of them and I'm still married 30 years later.

If you don't like something, don't let that stop you if you like the technique. Switch it out, you're allowed.

The Results (of the Orange Almond Polenta Cake)

Really, it's quite sexy on it's own. Not to sweet. I picture it with softly whipped cream, berries, peaches, maybe a few toasted Almonds. But for now I'll have it with a cup of tea and think about the spring.

Nigella Lawson, My Girl Crush

Nigella Lawson makes a Lemon Polenta Cake. I made it once because I found Almond Meal in my freezer. That's a good enough reason to make anything. It's texture is lovely and smells wonderful when baking. But I never make the same thing twice and I'm going through an Orange Almond phase.
I think you can substitute and Citrus for Any Citrus, maybe not so much Limes and grapefruits but that's my personal taste. Grapefruits seem to be having their 10 minutes of fame which is odd because so many people can't have Grapefruit due to prescription Medicine..but..anyway.
Here's is Nigella's Version-
(this is one of those times I endorse "room Temperature Ingredients"

for the cake

• 1 ¾ sticks soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
• 1 cup superfine sugar (I used granulated, don't tell)
• 2 cups almond meal
• ¾ cup fine polenta (or cornmeal)
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (gluten free if required)
• 3 large eggs
• zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup) or Oranges or what ever.

for the syrup

• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• A shot of something Alcoholic if you want

(i  know, it's Gluten Free, Who knew?)

hERE IS HER METHOD WITH MY SNARKY comments-

Method

1. Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter.
2. To quote my Son .."Meh". If all you have is a 9 inch cake pan it's OK, as long as it's a tall one. But really do the Parchment part. Don't just say you did, really do it.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/ 350°F.
4. HA! Gas Mark! So British, lets put the pot on for tea.
5. Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.
6. This where the room temp thing will help you.
7. Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while.
8. OK, this is where I go all "Off Book". I recently bought some really good Vanilla, thank you Penzey's Spices for ruining me for Cheap Vanillas. So I would add a teaspoon of Vanilla, but for this version that I'm guiding you through, I did 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla and a 1/2 teaspoon of Almond Extract. Measure carefully, to much Almond extract gets to perfume-ee.
9. Finally, beat in the lemon zest (NOW! Do it, use Orange Zest, don't you feel empowered?) and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes.
10. It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin. remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its tin.
11. Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar in a smallish saucepan. (Use Orange Juice instead)
12. Once the confectioners' sugar’s dissolved into the juice, you’re done. Use granulated if you want, it might take a bit more to dissolve it.
13. Prick (tee hee) the top of the cake all over with a cake tester , pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.
14. Feeling Crazy? Claim this for your own. If you are making lemon Version, add a shot of Lemoncello to syrup. For the Orang? Add Grand Marnier to it or Triple Sec if you are having a tight week. Lime would be sool and kind of a good dessert for Mexican Food..Do what ever you want. If the original version works, make intelligent substitutions and your version will work too. If A works, then B works too.

Stay Tuned, be good, I'll post a picture tomorrow.

Black Bean Brownies

(feel free to call Flourless Brownies if the Black Beans would scare people)

This is the “A”…and if this works…

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

3 eggs

¼ cup melted and slightly cooled

Shot of Liquid

(So I couldn’t get the above perfectly smooth, the point is to make the Black Beans Invisible, so I added a shot of Rum. Kraken Rum, you could taste it and I think it enhanced the Chocolate flavor a lot. But any liquid would do and I got thinking, if Rum was good, how about Bourbon? Triple Sec or Amaretto or Kahlua? In the end, coffee would work too if you are a no alcohol kind of person.)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup white sugar

¼ cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees .Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.

Combine the black beans, eggs, butter, and “liquid”. Blend until perfectly smooth. Pour into a mixing bowl.

Add cocoa powder, salt , vanilla extract, sugar; whisk  until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Lining the baking dish with foil or parchment so you easily lift out makes for easier cutting.

Then this should work too. This is the “B”

So this recipe works, and works well. But I never do the same thing twice.  So the next time I made it with Chocolate Chips AND Walnuts Sprinkled on top and Use Bourbon instead of Rum.

From there I imagine, a Tablespoon of instant coffee into batter (maybe increase sugar by 2 tablespoons?), and use Kahlua.

Add Almonds, almond extract instead of Vanilla, use Amaretto.

Add Hazelnuts and Use Fragelica.

Add Coconut and replace chocolate chips with White Chocolate Chips.

And Finally…Soak dry cherries in a couple of tablespoons of warmed liquid and stir in the batter. Use Kirsch (cherry flavored liquor) instead of Rum.

How it Works

I never follow a recipe. I use recipes, but I never follow them, If something calls for one thing and I use another and it makes it super yummy, then that's how it works. Arecipe is a tool to jump off of. There are no Kitchen Police. If A works, the B should work too. As simple as substituting an ingredient with one that you like better or with one that you have on hand. It's kind of like proving a Math theory but with food. If A works then B works. Take a recipe you know by heart and are a little board with and shake it up a little.
I am the first to make fun of TV cooks who are always "putting a twist on a classic" because it's been done to death.I am talking about "doing what you want" cause no one is going to tell on you. Do what you want in the kitchen.
Recomended reading-
http://crowthersusan.wix.com/norecipecookbook
If you are afraid to dabble, this book will give you the basics, and the pictures are super pretty, cause I totally took them.