How to cook a first-date dinner

Don't sweat the first romantic meal.

Preparing a first-date meal means maintaining your cool in the kitchen at all costs. Prepare the meal ahead of time. And avoid the routine lasagna that will make you seem routine as well. Channel your inner French chef by cooking a cherished one-pot recipe called "coq au vin," meaning "rooster in wine." With few roosters in stores these days, cooks now substitute a respectable grocery chicken. Though probably a fairly ancient recipe, the term "coq au vin" did not surface in cookbooks until the early 20th century.

Things You'll Need

• Large Dutch oven or cast-iron frying pan
• 5 slices bacon
• 2 medium chicken breasts
• 2 thighs
• 2 legs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 smashed garlic cloves
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 ½ to 2 cups mushrooms, including stems, sliced
• 6 small whole mushrooms
• 2 cups well-drained carrots, shredded
• 1/4 cup brandy or cognac
• 1 bottle dry red wine---pinot noir, zinfandel or cabernet. (Use dry white wine if you prefer white.) Use moderately priced wine that you would be willing to drink.
• 2 cups chicken broth, fresh or canned
• 7 sprigs of fresh thyme or 2 to 3 tbsp. powdered thyme
• 3 tsp. powdered tarragon
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
• 1 loaf French bread
• Wine for drinking

Instructions

1. Fry bacon at medium temperature until crisp. Drain on paper towels, leaving fat in pan. Crumble bacon into small pieces and set aside.

2. Dust chicken in flour; add salt and pepper. Brown chicken in fat, approximately two minutes per side. Add garlic, onion, mushrooms and carrots to pan. Sauté at medium temperature until slightly soft, approximately four minutes.

3. 

   Sprigs of thyme

   Add wine and broth gently until well blended. Add 5 thyme sprigs and tarragon. Cover pan, and simmer one hour.

4. Remove pan cover. Taste broth to make sure it isn't bland. If needed, add extra tsp. of thyme or salt for flavor. Simmer 15 minutes to moderately reduce broth. If broth is too thin, add 1 tbsp. tomato paste. Remove whole mushrooms, and set aside.

5. 

   Use French bread for sopping up broth.

   Top with parsley and remaining thyme sprigs.

   Arrange whole mushrooms around side of pan.

   Serve dish with crusty French bread and a wine matching the kind you used for broth, or a superior vintage! Urge your date to sop up remaining wine sauce with bread---an enduring French habit.

   Place crumbled bacon in small, decorative bowl for garnish.

Tips & Warnings

• To raise the "romantic" temperature, substitute two thin, heart-shaped slices from a fresh red pepper for parsley and thyme topping.

• Refrigerate remaining coq au vin. It's even tastier the next day.

• Do not flour chicken a long time before cooking, or it will become rubbery and lose its juiciness.

References

• Food Timeline FAQ: meat and poultry: Coq au vin

Resources

• Food Network: Coq au Vin
• Food Network: Coq au Vin
• Food Network: Coq au Vin