Coq Au Pinotage

[Serves 6]

You will need

1 large free-range or farm
chicken, jointed
25 baby or pearl or
pickling onions
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
1 bottle Pinotage (We used Beyerskloof)
sea salt flakes and freshly
ground black pepper
flour
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
200g good quality streaky
bacon, chopped  
200g baby portobellini mushrooms, cleaned and left whole  
1/3 cup brandy (We used KWV 3-year old)
2 tbsp redcurrant jelly (we used Hillcrest)
 
For the bouquet garni
2 fresh bay leaves
1 large stick celery cut into two
4 sprigs thyme
handful of parsley

To serve
Chopped parsley
Sliced white bread
Melted butter for brushing
Creamy mash

Step one: Make the bouquet garni

Tie together the celery, bay leaves, thyme and parsley with a piece of string. If you have a piece of muslin you could make a little bag and include the garlic cloves before securing it with the string.

Step two: Blanche and peel the baby onions

Tip the onions into a bowl; cover with boiling water for one minute, then drain and cover with ice water. Slice off the roots and peel off skins, leaving the pointed tip intact.

Step three: Marinate and brown chicken

Place chicken in a dish with the bouquet garni and garlic. Pour over wine; marinate at least 2 hours. Remove chicken from marinade, reserving the latter; pat dry. Season chicken; dust with flour. Heat butter and oil in a large casserole and brown chicken in batches over medium-high heat. Set aside.

Step four: Fry off the other ingredients and flambe

Add the bacon to the casserole and fry gently until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add onions (with more butter if necessary) and fry until starting to brown in patches. Add mushrooms and cook until starting to go golden. Add the chicken and bacon and remove casserole from heat. Warm brandy in a soup ladle over a flame (or in a saucepan). Ignite and pour over ingredients, leaving it to burn until the flames die down.

Step five: Simmering and cooling

Add the marinade, bouquet garni and 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly. Simmer so it barely breaks into a bubble for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken is cooked and the onions are tender. Remove the bouquet garni, stir in another tbsp of redcurrant jelly and season to taste. Allow to cool, refrigerate overnight. Before serving, spoon off the layer of fat on the surface of the sauce and discard. Reheat gently.

Step six: Make the toasted hearts

Cut the crusts off a slice of bread and cut across diagonally to make four triangles. Cut off two of the points and then cut a V in between the two points. Cut 12 hearts; arrange on a baking sheet. Place under the grill and toast both sides until golden, then brush with melted butter. Spoon the coq au Pinotage into a serving dish, garnish with toasted hearts and parsley. Serve with mash and a good Pinotage.   

Tips:

• A bouquet garni is simply a bundle of herbs tied together so that it is easier to remove it from the
casserole once you’re finished cooking it.
• Muslin is a gauze-like fabric used to make sachets of herbs and to strain stock.
• It’s important to dry the chicken very well before browning otherwise it will boil instead of fry.
• Warming the ladle before flambéing helps the brandy ignite easily.
• Refrigerating the coq au Pinotage overnight helps the colour and rounds the flavour.