Day 6 -Classic Comfort Food - Coq au Vin and Beautifully Clean Banana Bread

Finally the weekend arrived and my husband was allowed a bit of meat. Not that he was complaining. I did, after all, stuff his belly fully of delicious vegetarian meals last week. But men are men. And men like meat.

To reward James for his patience I made one of his favorites - Coq au Vin.  I decided to clean up the side dishes, however, so as not to stray too far from our Clean Cuisine challenge.

 Coq au Vin goes with creamy mashed potatoes like peanut butter goes with jelly (I know you Europeans are rolling your eyes right now but I am a Yank after all!) However, the stew felt like enough of an indulgence. Buttery mashed potatoes were not allowed. I replaced them with something a bit more nutritious - cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and that did the trick.

I figured Coq au Vin is a good recipe to share. Everyone who lives in France (or elsewhere in the world, for that matter) should know how to make coq au vin. It is wonderful and satisfying, easy to make and affordable. It is a perfect meal for a cold winter night (or a rainy spring night as we had on Saturday).

On Sunday I made the girls a lovely sugar-free, whole wheat Banana Bread . I was hoping it would last for breakfast and snacks this week but it has been completely devoured already! I also made them Whole Wheat Cheddar and Flaxseed Crackers  (biscuits) for snacks this week but they too have already disappeared! I guess I should share that recipe too - maybe tomorrow. In the meantime.........

Coq au Vin

 6 Organic Chicken legs, each cut between the thigh and drumstick (If you can find a whole organic chicken you can definitely use that but I know you can find organic legs in most of the supermarkets here. If you are in the US definitely use organic chicken and not those HUGE  supermarket chicken legs that look like they came off a turkey!)

2 cups/500ml red wine

1 bouquet garni

2 slices of thick, streaky bacon, chopped (or 250g lardons)

A couple pats of butter

Splash of Cognac

25 Pearl Onions* (or 2 medium onions cut in chunks)

2 large carrots

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tablespoons Flour

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups veal or chicken stock

4 Tablepoons tomato paste

3/4 teaspoon salt

250 g/8 oz button mushrooms, halved or quartered

Marinate the chicken:( You can do this the night before (preferably) or 2 hours before, whenever you remember!) Pour the wine over the chicken. Add the bouquet garni and marinate in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry.  Remove the bouquet garni but reserve the wine. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

In a casserole dish sauté the bacon. If you are using the lardons you will probably need a bit of butter as they do not release much fat. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towel. In batches, if necessary, brown the chicken pieces on each side being careful not to burn. Deglaze the pan with the cognac in between batches. Remove the chicken to a paper towel lined tray. If there is a lot of fat in the pan tip most of it out, leaving just enough to sauté your veggies in. Add the pearl onions and carrots and sauté about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until just fragrant. Sprinkle the flour over veggies and sauté about 1 minute, being careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the reserved wine, stock, tomato paste and salt. Return the chicken and the bacon to the pot. You want the chicken pretty submerged in the wine mixture. Cover with a lid. Place casserole in the oven and cook for 1 1/2  hours. 

Just before removing the casserole from the oven sauté the mushrooms in a pat of butter until they have released their juices and caramelized a bit. Add to the Coq au Vin, stir. Season sauce as necessary and serve.

*To peel pearl onions cut an X shape on the bottom of each onion and cook them for about one minute in boiling water. You don't want to cook the onions - you are just helping to loosen the peel. Drain and cool before peeling the onions

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

1 medium head of cauliflower

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream (Creme Liquide)

1 Tablespoon Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 cup or 1 handful finely grated cheddar or parmesan

Salt and Pepper

This is a recipe where it is hard to give measurements. You can make it as healthy or as indulgent as you want. 

Steam (preferred) or boil the cauliflower in salted water until it is tender. Tip the cauliflower into a food processor and puree until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients, whiz in the food processor again and season to taste. The creamier (and more like mashed potatoes) you want this to be the more of each ingredient you need to add. Play around and decide how healthy you want it to be.

Beautifully Clean Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I threw some flaxseeds into this bread because they are a superfood and I'll throw them into baked goods as much as I can to have my kids eat them. They didn't even notice and the bread did not last 36 hours in our house before it was all eaten up! If your bananas are really ripe and your juice really sweet you won't need the optional maple syrup. 

2 cups (255g) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons (10ml or 10g) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2.5ml or 2.5g) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml or 2.5g) ( cinnamon
4 medium/large really ripe bananas
1 egg
1/3 cup (78 ml) vegetable oil
1/2 cup (120ml) freshly squeezed orange or clementine juice
2 Tablespoons (30ml) Maple Syrup (optional)
1/2 cup (65g) raisins
1/2 cup (55g) walnuts, chopped
a good handful of flaxseeds (linseeds) (optional)


Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. In a separate bowl mash up your bananas with a potato masher until they are completely puréed and liquidy. In another large bowl combine egg, oil, juice and maple syrup if using. Alternatively stir your banana and dry ingredients into the oil mixture. Stir until well combined. Stir in raisins, walnuts and flaxseeds. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake 50 minutes to 1 hour (all ovens are different). Test the bread with a wooden skewer to make sure it is done.

Voila!