Sunday Dinner

In the Teren household (well, back in the day when all four of us were actually living full-time in the Teren household) Sunday night was one of my favorite nights of the week for one reason (well, I guess two reasons if you counted a new episode of Desperate Housewives at 8:00) and one reason only: Sunday dinner. Our standard Sunday supper included mom's salmon, baked with leeks, lemon slices, butter, and parsley, french green beans or a tossed salad, sauteed zucchini with onions, and some crusty bread and butter. Often times we sat at the kitchen table and entertained each other with scintillating conversation, while other times we sat in front of the TV and watched 60 Minutes, letting Andy Roony entertain us with his very wise words. Either way, Sunday night always meant good food and good company.

This past Sunday night, Jac and I returned once more to the Connolly kitchen to make a decadent dinner. Luckily there was no bickering over what to cook, no precious time wasted looking up various recipes, and no calling our moms 17 times asking for idea suggestions that involve this but not that this time around (well, okay I guess we called Mrs. Connolly once or twice, but that was after we'd already decided what to make and just had some quick questions).

Sunday Night Menu: 
Coq Au Vin - succulent dark meat chicken served in a red wine sauce with onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, bacon, and thyme
French Onion Soup - topped with toast and melted Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses
Crusty bread for dipping

Yes, a rather wintery meal, but much to my delight Jac suggested the coq au vin (he once worked at a French restaurant and loved the dish, prepared by chef Martin) and naturally we had to add in our favorite soup, French onion, to make the meal complete.

We looked up about 5-7 recipes for our chicken dish, mixing and matching ingredients to our liking (heavy on the mushrooms for me, heavy on the carrots for him) and Jac even creatively veered off course from our researched recipes, using the technique he swore he'd seen Martin use for his wine sauce; while most recipes instructed us to pour a bottle of red wine over the chicken and veggies, allowing it to simmer before putting the whole pot into the oven, Jac made a thicker sauce consisting of wine, butter, and flour, over which he poured the chicken and vegetables just before letting everything bake together for 30 minutes. I, of course, wanted to follow the directions, but he was confident in his method so I set my kitchen-control-freak persona aside, and Jac took the reigns.

Jac and I were the A-team in the kitchen: I made the French onion soup--which Mr. Connolly dubbed the best he'd ever had, thank you very much --and also chopped up all the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and bacon for the coq au vin, while he seasoned and browned the chicken, then assembled, flipped, sauteed, stirred, poured, and everything else.

We timed it perfectly. We cooked it perfectly. We plated it perfectly. If I do say so myself.

Everything was absolutely delicious. The chicken was cooked to perfection: moist and tender, it fell off the bone and was bursting with flavors of onions, thyme and wine, and the vegetables were soft but not mushy (I hate a mushy vegetable). I toasted little toast rounds with melted gruyere and parmesan cheese to float atop the sweet and salty soup, and we soaked up the coq au vin sauce and leftover veggies with a French baguette (obviously, we had to stay with the genre). Although we were sweating from the heat in the kitchen, the heat of our food, and the heat outside, everyone was happy, just a little sweaty.

Sunday Dinner was a great success and Jac and Mads are now three for three. Might have to redo this one once colder weather comes around and it's more season appropriate, or we may instead just keep pushing on and trying new things...I've already started browsing recipes ;)

Kiss the cooks!