Cannabis Cuisine Part 2: Coq au Vin

Hey folks! Welcome to another blog post from your favorite (and only) locally owned cannabis retailer! Last week we began our journey down the path of crafting our own psycho-active culinary delights by learning how to make canna-butter (which is butter that is infused with cannabis). Which means that if you’ve been following along you are equipped with the secret ingredient you’ll need to take virtually any meal and amplify it with cannabinoid goodness.

“But Brynn,” you say, “Where will I find some good recipes that will make the most of the delicious butter I made?”. Well my friends, that’s where me being a pretentious foodie nerd comes in handy, cause for the next few weeks you’re going to be joining me as I lay down some of my favorite recipes that can be infused with your canna-butter to make a heady delectable that will wow, amaze and then fry your friends and loved ones. As I write this the bitterness of winters last hurrah has swung down upon us so I figured we would start our canna-cooking journey with a meal that is hearty, warm and delicious: Coq au Vin.

What You’ll Need

                The basis of this recipe comes courtesy of the legendary Julia Child. If you haven’t heard of her, she’s the reason French cuisine became popular in North America by way of her bestselling cookbooks and television shows. Thanks Julia!

                Anyway, the key difference between her recipe and mine is a simple matter of preferences in terms of how things are prepared and of course, the addition of canna-butter.

Ingredients and Such:

4-6 chicken thighs (with skin)

1 cup of chicken stock

1.5 cups of dry red wine

3-5 strips of thick cut bacon (cut into half inch pieces)

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of pepper

1 onion of medium size (thinly sliced)

4 medium sized carrots (peeled and cut into once inch pieces)

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 teaspoons of fresh thyme (chopped fine)

6 ounces of mushrooms, thickly sliced

5 ounces of pearl onions (peeled)

Beurre Manie (2 tablespoons of flour mixed with approximately 2 tablespoons of our infused butter!)

This recipe doesn’t call for a ton of our canna-butter which is fine, because the alcohol content from the red wine will further amplify the effects of the cannabis and we don’t want it to get too intense.

You’ll also need a large mixing bowl, a skillet or frying pan and a large pot.

Alright, lets get to it!

How it’s done

- First up, place the chicken thighs in the mixing bowl. Pour the red wine and chicken stock over top, then let it rest for a bit while we cook some bacon.

- Put your pot on the stove at medium high heat and once it’s hot, add the bacon in. Let it cook until the bacon has a bit of crisp to it. It shouldn’t take more than 8-10 minutes. Once the bacon is fully cooked, sift it out using a fork or spatula, making sure to leave behind the sweet, sweet bacon fat.

- Now let’s remove the chicken from our mixing bowl, saving the wine/stock mix for a later step. Pat the chicken skin dry with a paper towel and then season with salt and pepper, about a half teaspoon of each should suffice.

-Place the chicken into the still hot pot, lining the bottom with your marinated poultry (if necessary you can cook the chicken in multiple batches if your pot is not girthy enough to support all of the chicken in one go). Then cook on each side until the chicken skin has gone a nice golden brown, or about 10 minutes. Now, remove the partially cooked chicken from the pot and set it aside.

- Take a cup or bowl and pour all but a couple of tablespoons worth of the fat and oil that’s accumulated in the pot into it, setting the cup/bowl of oil aside as well for later use. Make sure to leave some oil/fat in the pot for our next step.

- Add your sliced onion and carrots to the pot and start cookin’ em. Let them cook until the onion is golden brown but not burnt and your carrots are starting to soften, stirring frequently. Add the garlic into the mix and let it cook for about a minute or until it’s aromatic.

-Now shove the vegetables to the side of the pot and put your tomato paste into the open spot. Let the paste cook down until it begins to darken, then pour in our preserved wine marinade, half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper, let it come to a light boil and let it cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. While it’s cooking, use your spatula/spoon to scrape the pot to free up anything that’s gotten stuck to the bottom.

-Add the chicken back into the pot, nestling it into the sauce. Sprinkle about half of your fresh thyme over the top, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for the next 20 minutes.

-While the chicken is cooking, let’s take our skillet and pour about a tablespoon of the oil/fat we set aside into it. Add your mushrooms to the pan and let it sauté over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.

- Now, back to the chicken and sauce. Let’s add our pearl onions into the pot and let it continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so.

- Now it’s time to add our butter manie! Toss that into the sauce (you may want to remove the chicken from the sauce to make stirring in the butter manie a bit easier) and stir until the sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

- Now add your chicken back to the pot if you removed it for stirring purposes, sprinkle your remaining thyme over the top and we’re ready to dig in!

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You’ve successfully made a relatively easy to make meal that will make everyone think you’re fancy. As an added bonus, it’ll get you high! The high fat and butter content in this dish will further amplify the effects of the cannabis so remember to enjoy responsibly.

        Need some quality bud to start your cannabis cooking journey? Check out our menu for the best variety of cannabis you’ll find anywhere!