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
So glad you liked it Rita. Unfortunately I don’t have the nutritional content of this recipe but I do know it will be quite hight in fat and calories due to the cream. If you wanted to make this every week and are worried about the calories/fat content, perhaps try to use reduced fat cream? The only worry with that is that some reduced fat creams can split if they are boiled so you will have to only add the cream right at the very end and cook the chicken in a little chicken stock.
I soooo loved this recipe!! I made this tonight and it was delicious! Does anyone have the nutrition content on this to show the amount of calories/cholesteral/protien/etc that is in this per serving? I would love to know so that I could make this once a week!
Rita, look at the ingredients, you don’t WANT to know. Some things are special occasion… this is one of them. Don’t look so you won’t regret. My husband has cancer, we eat whatever we want when we want. I understand others have dietary concerns. All things in moderation.
Hi Alida, lovely recipe– I only have question about step 4(leaving the fat behind) Do you mean that I pour it out of the pan? Thanks 🙂
This recipe is so delicious. I love using white wine and cream. Thank you for the interesting and oh so delicious take on the classic. I modified the recipe just a bit as I had to translate the measurements 🙂 but it was still so good. My family loved it and we had it twice in the same week. Thank you!
So glad you liked it!
Kelly, if you’d like you can mix a little cornflour with a little water and mix that in and allow to cook through or you can just allow the sauce to simmer uncovered until it reaches the thickness you are after.
I made this tonight and loved the flavors. I am wondering if anyone felt it was too runny? Mine was and I was looking for how to thicken up the sauce a bit.
If you leave the lid off and simmer it after adding the cream, then by the time the bread bakes and you have tossed the salad, the sauce should have thickened up nicely on its own.
Just made this for dinner tonight, absolutely delicious! I used sauvignon blanc with dried porcinni and fresh shiitakes because I had those on hand. Amazing dish, will be making it for company soon.
That sounds amazing Bernie. So glad you enjoyed it.
Im probably being stupid but Step 8 starts by saying ‘after 15 mins’ : does this mean after 15 mins of the 15-25 mins already mentioned in Step 7 or does it mean that after the dish has cooked for 15-25 mins (as mentioned in step 7) you then wait and leave it sit for 15 mins before adding the cream/bringing up heat again etc? Bit confused. Thanks 🙂
The dish needs to cook for approximately 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked but after 15 minutes you can uncover it and add the cream so that the sauce can reduce slightly. Hope that clears it up! 😉
The garlic is spot on — you won’t notice it after all the cooking. If you are afraid HE will, mince it finely. The smaller the cut, the milder the taste. I actually just coarsely chopped mine, we love it, but for the ONE GRANDCHILD who is a PITA, I would mince it.
I would like to make this but I noticed that the recipe calls for 4 cloves of garlic. Both my daughter and I love garlic but my husband HATES the smell and taste of it. So, I need to know how strong the garlic smell/flavor is in this dish. I made a dish the other day with 2 cloves of minced garlic and he was OK with that as it did not taste/smell garlicky but I am concerned that 4 cloves will have a much stronger taste/smell. Please advise.
Carol, I think start with 2 cloves and see how he feels with that. Instead of using 4 and then he doesn’t like it. Maybe the next time you make it you can add a little more? And be sure to really cook it out so that it becomes mellow and sweet instead of being pungent.
The garlic is spot on — you won’t notice it after all the cooking. If
you are afraid HE will, mince it finely. The smaller the cut, the
milder the taste. I actually just coarsely chopped mine, we love it,
but for the ONE GRANDCHILD who is a PITA, I would mince it
This recipe is an absolute hit! My husband and I LOVED it and will definitely be making it again very soon. The flavors and textures were heavenly – even with half-fat cream. I’m SO glad to have found your beautiful blog! Thank you!
So glad you liked it Michelle. Thanks for the lovely comment.
Wow, what a wonderful compliment. But what else do you expect from Nigel? 😉
I made this last night for my husband and I. He said the first mouthful took him back to Paris!!! Now, how’s that for a recommendation!!!??
Hi there! I pinned your recipe months ago and finally got round to making it tonight to christen my new Le Creuset 🙂 It was every bit as delicious as your picture looked! I hope you don’t mind me blogging it (adapted down for two to four people) http://www.fifigoesnom.com/2014/01/coq-au-riesling/ I’ve credited the original recipe back to you (and Nigel Slater) of course. Thanks ever so much for sharing this in the first place.
So glad you liked it!
No, I used what we call in SA Fresh cream or Whipping cream. I think it’s called Heavy Cream in the US?
Cream?? Sour cream right??
This is beautiful! Peter @Feed Your Soul Too
That looks delicious. Can’t wait to make it, sans mushrooms. Gorgeous pan, BTW. I wish it were easier to find Le Creuset in white and in black too.
We love the way you write and adore this recipe. Found you on Pinterest and have a lovely new blog to follow!
Of course, you can use any mushrooms you have on hand.
Lizzy, I think you could perhaps use a little cornflour mixed with water just to thicken the sauce slightly and use a little chicken stock instead of the cream.