Nigel Slater’s Coq au Riesling
Deeply savoury and delicious, Nigel Slater’s Coq au Riesling will quickly become a favorite quickly. Chicken cooked with white wine, cream and mushrooms.
For my birthday a week or so ago, I was spoiled with something I have wanted for a very, VERY long time. A perfect, white Le Creuset 30cm Buffet Casserole. Well that was my idea anyway. I went to my local Le Creuset store very much intent on buying one of the pristine beauties but was told that the white range only gets made twice a year in France and as it’s also a very popular range, it gets sold out relatively quickly.
I took to Twitter to see if anyone could help me and within minutes the amazing folk at Le Creuset South Africa tweeted me back saying they are going to search high and low and within 24 hours they had located the very last white buffet casserole in the country and had it sent to my local store. I mean, is there anyone that does customer service better?
Anyway, so buffet casserole purchased, I needed something to christen it with. A good friend suggested that I make Nigel Slater’s Coq au Riesling from his book Real Food and I knew it had to be. I tweeted about it (well of course) and what do you know, Mr Slater himself shared my sentiment that this dish was made for my dish.
You should make this if you like chicken. If you like mushrooms. If you like creamy sauces. If you like Food. And most importantly if you like a bit of plate licking. This recipe is so gosh-darn delicious that I did, in fact, lick my plate. While it’s cooking, the scent of onion, garlic, mushrooms and wine will waft through your house, teasing your senses and when you take your first bite, you will swoon.
The chicken was soft and succulent and the sauce deeply savoury. Serve it with steamed rice or on top of al dente pasta or as I did, with a loaf of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. A zesty green salad won’t be out of place either.
Nigel Slater’s Coq au Riesling
Ingredients
- 50 g butter
- splash of olive oil
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 125 g bacon/pancetta sliced into thin strips
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 8 chicken pieces on the bone I used 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks
- 250 g portabellini mushrooms sliced
- 500 ml Riesling or dry white wine of your choice
- 250 ml cream
- salt & pepper to taste
- handful chopped parsley
Instructions
- Melt the butter and oil together in a large pan.
- Brown the chicken pieces all over and remove from the pan.
- Add the onions and bacon and allow to fry until the onions are soft and translucent and the bacon has rendered it’s fat.
- Add the garlic and allow to saute for another 30 seconds before removing the mixture from the pan (leaving the fat behind).
- Add the mushrooms and allow to fry for 5 minutes.
- Add the onion and bacon mixture along with the browned chicken back to the pan.
- Pour in the wine and allow to come up to a boil. Turn down the heat and cover. Allow to simmer for 15-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- After 15 minutes, uncover, turn up the heat and add the cream. Allow to cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add the chopped parsley and season to taste.
- Serve with rice, pasta or crusty bread.
Other chicken dinner recipes you will love:
Easy coconut curry chicken thighs
Creamy Dijon mustard chicken thighs
Pan-roasted chicken with lemon garlic butter
My husband is not a dark meat chicken lover so I’m wondering if I can substitute with chicken breast? Would that change the cooking time or flavor?
Alida!!! I have to have that pan. No really. I have to have it! Can you e-mail me more about the process of finding it if you have a moment? I actually may want the whole line. Thank you so much!
kendall boggs
Thank you for this recipe. I made this on Sunday, I am in love with the flavors. This was a hit!
Could this dish be made in a regular deep sided frying pan?! I want to try it. I am suffering from pan envy right now lol
Yes of course Carley.
This looks and sounds delicious! I WILL be trying this out soon!
I made this over the weekend for my boyfriend, we enjoyed it very much, especially with some crusty bread. However, I did find that the sauce was a bit too thin and not thick. Is there anyway, I can thicken up the sauce next time round?
Nandi, you could add a little cornflour mixed with water and allow it to cook through if you want the sauce to be a little thicker.
Hi there Alida! I just made this dish. It was wonderful, but I had to do some things differently than you described. I drained the butter and oil off after the first browning so that the bacon wouldn’t boil/steam. (I detest flaccid bacon.) Then I drained off some of bacon grease before working on the mushrooms next. This actually took quite a bit of time and I did use a pretty large Le Cruset pan. I’m wondering if it is still too small, but I butchered a whole chicken into 4 large pieces and they all fit without overlapping. Why did we need to brown twice? I’m just curious. Overall it was absolutely scrumptious and I will definitely make it again. Thank you for posting this. This is my first recipe from your site I’ve made, even though I’ve “pinned”….100? Lots. You site is fabulous and your sticky Indian chicken is next on my list.
Dana, you don’t need to brown the chicken twice. You simply brown the chicken once after you’ve fried the bacon and mushrooms and then cook it in the wine and stock.
I’m still confused about this. In step 2 the recipe says: “Brown the chicken pieces all over and remove from the pan.”
Then step 6 says: “Allow to brown all over then add the mushrooms and allow to fry for 5 minutes.”
Did you omit step 2 when you made it?
So sorry to cause confusion. I’ve amended the recipe. 🙂
So sorry to cause the confusion. I’m having trouble updating the recipe but you only brown once, in the beginning then place the chicken back in the pot after the onions and bacon have been fried then add the mushrooms and proceed.
I was confused also. You say to brown in Step 2 and Step 6.
I agree with Dana…lots of oil, butter and bacon grease. As a chef, I prefer to render the bacon and then add the thighs. The dish is great. Browning twice is important; first to crisp and secondly to let dark meat finish to 165*. Excellent.
Made this tonight and I enjoyed every bite. I love french dishes and actually picked this one to celebrate my new job! Thanks for sharing! My family really enjoyed it!
So glad you liked it Sara!
I made this tonight for dinner! It. was. fabulous! Even better than I thought it would be! Thank you for sharing!
So glad you liked it Miranda!
What kind of cream do I use?
I used fresh cream. I think it might be called Heavy cream in the US?
Made this for dinner and… LOVED it. It’s a Must Keep indeed. Thanks so much for the recipe.
It’s become a definite favourite. Glad you like it too!
The second time you brown the chicken, do I need to use a new pan with the onion and bacon liquid in it?
Dahlia, I use the same pan for everything. If there is a ton of liquid, perhaps pour it off but I find that you are only left with a lot of liquid if you overcrowd the pan. IN that case, rather fry the bacon and mushrooms off in batches.
Great recipe, loved it – but I think it needs more sauce. 🙂 I’ve made it with half the meat you’ve used (2 thighs and 2 drumsticks), but with your measures for the sauce (because we love sauces), and the amount was just right, there was no leftover sauce – I’m afraid there simply wouldn’t be enough of it had we made this amount for 8 pieces of meat.
The amount of sauce in the photos actually was more than enough of us, and we’re also really saucy people. You could always just add more cream if you wanted it saucier. Glad you liked it.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit with the whole family. Kids really love it!
So glad you liked it Suz!
Hi, just made this and it was divine! The sauce is incredible, I could not stop eating! Thank you for sharing!!
I’ve been dying to make this recipe since I spotted it here last week. I made it for a family dinner tonight, served with olive bread and a rocket and avo salad. It was delicious and a real hit. My family of foodies adored it. Thanks, Alida. I love your website and blogs.
So glad you and your family enjoyed it Sue! And thanks for the lovely comment.
I made this for a small gathering last night, with homemade crusty bread and tossed salad. It was DELICIOUS! We’ve saved the recipe to our favorites and will be making this again.
That sounds like the perfect sides for this delicious recipe. Glad you liked it.
Excellent dish that my french husband thoroughly enjoyed. I, however,
found the sauce too thin. Any suggestions (and I don’t want to add a starch)>
You could simply allow the sauce to reduce, uncovered for a few more minutes.
I made this last night, it was really devine! Don’t have such an amazing pan like you, but definitely yummy! My new go to recipe xxx
So glad you liked it Heide-Marie!
I made this for dinner this evening. Absolutely delicious! Thanks Alida!
So glad you liked it Cindy. A new favourite in our household.
This looks so saucy and scrumptious!
Angie, it absolutely is!
Can chicken broth New substituted for the wine,?