Coq au vin

I truly enjoy cooking (well, most of the time...), but I'm also a bit stuck in the "country girl" cooking mode.  I could live and die Pioneer Woman cooking.  Which is delicious and all, but I've been wanting to stretch my culinary wings a bit lately.  So I decided to start out with coq au vin, a classic French dish that literally means "rooster in wine."  I more or less followed the recipe out of my Betty Crocker Cookbook.   I was NOT taught cook growing up (my mother can barely make toast!), and an older version of this cookbook is the first cookbook I ever owned. I love it, and I owe my ability to cook at all largely to the great instructions and explanations in this book! Anyway, on to the food...

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3-3.5 lbs cut up whole chicken
8 slices bacon
3/4 cup frozen pearl onions
8oz sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup chicken broth (homemade is best!!)
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 tsp salt
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2 in pieces
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Bouquet garni (a couple sprigs of thyme, parsley, and a bayleaf tied up in cheese cloth)

Cut up the bacon and throw it in the frying pan.  While that cooks, mix the salt and pepper with the flour and coat the chicken.  After the bacon is crisp, remove it (do NOT drain the grease).

Add the chicken to the bacon grease and fry on all sides until nice and brown.  I had to do mine in batches in my dutch oven.  Once it's all browned remove it (and again, do NOT drain the grease).

Add the mushrooms and the pearl onions and cook over medium heat about 6 minutes.

While that cooks ready your bouquet garni.

And your carrots!

Add in the rest of the ingredients and put the chicken back in.  I added in enough water to just cover the chicken.  Bring to a boil and cover, reduce to low, and simmer until the chicken is nice and tender.  Remove the bouquet garni and it's ready to go.

Delicious!  The family loved it, even my picky little girls :)