Coq au Vin

Very nice recipe! It's approximately comparable to the Coq au Vin from Die echte Jeden-Tag-Küche in both taste and complexity.

Remarkable about this recipe is that although it uses Cognac, it doesn't flambée it - we did - and that the mushrooms are being fried separately, which means they retain both their flavour and their texture. Minor issue: It's absolutely impossible to fry all chicken pieces in one go, though the recipe seems to imply it.

We served the rest of the topping of yesterdays Grilled Vegetable Pizza as a side dish, which worked pretty well, mainly due to the rosemary.

Edited 27 October 2014: I was slightly worried that 45 min of braising wouldn't be enough, but in fact it was just right. Bits and pieces of the chicken even tasted just a tiny bit dry, and I wondered if that might have been because we kept the chicken pieces, covered with aluminium, in the oven heated to 50C while we reduced the sauce. One thing I didn't do (and I assume I didn't do it when I made it the first time around) is that I used other herbs - no cayenne (cayenne in Coq au Vin, really?), but instead nutmeg, dried rosemary and dried thyme, and a little fresh parsley at the end. Again, although it doesn't say so in the recipe, I flambéed the cognac again, which was especially exciting as it was the first time I did it while I was all alone.

Served with a slice of bread and Glazed Sautéed Carrots, though prepared with honey instead of sugar, and a bunch of fresh parsley - very delicious! Rosemary would work equally well.