Coq au Vin is a classic French dish. I have made the red wine version before. However, I don’t keep red wine around much, but pretty much always have some form of dry white wine around. So in my search for great recipes, I came across this recipe for Coq au Vin Blanc from Taste Love and Nourish. Coq au Vin Blanc just means chicken simmered in white wine. I love a good recipe that uses wine. Red wine leaves a more rich taste, which is why I love it in my beef stew. White wine is a more clean taste that leaves a bit of a bite. For this dish you can’t beat the protein. There is lots of it. I think with a little tweak here and there, I can also make it more vitamin rich. If you are wondering, no I will not remove the wine. It is key to this dish. The original uses an entire bottle. I may back it down a bit to save some calories. Here are the original stats:

A bit high in calories, but I think I can make some tweaks to bring that down and increase the vitamins.  Here’s what I changed:

• I deleted the pancetta to reduce the calories.
• I deleted the added salt to reduce the sodium.
• I removed the flour and replaced with cornstarch for a gluten free dish.
• I reduced the wine by half to reduce the calories.
• I increased the amount of chicken broth and used a low sodium variety.
• I switched out the whole chicken for bone-in chicken breast to lower the calories and fat.
• I increased the amount of carrots from 2 to 6 to increase the vitamin A.
• I added 1.5 pounds of kale to add vitamin C.
• I increased the servings from 8 to 17 to lower the calories.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Coq au Vin Blanc

Serves 17

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds bone in chicken breast
• freshly ground black pepper
• 16 ounces white button mushrooms or your favorite variety, sliced
• 1 large shallot finely diced
• 10 ounces pearl onions peeled (can use frozen that have been thawed to make things easier)
• 1 stalk celery sliced
• 6 medium carrots sliced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 bottle dry white wine
• 2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1.5 pounds kale, tough ribs removed and chopped
• 1 cup lentils
• 5 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 to 6 sprigs fresh parsley

1. In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, heat the olive oil
2. Season the chicken with pepper and brown them on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, in small batches. Put the pieces aside in a large dish as you work.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
4. Add the mushrooms to the pot, continuing on medium high heat. If you need to, add just a smidgen of oil. Brown the mushrooms until they are a deep golden brown. This will give your dish great flavor. They will release some water during the process, but keep them going and do not add any salt at this stage. They’ll begin to dry up and get brown and delicious. Once they are, add the shallot, pearl onions, celery and carrot. Continue cooking until the shallots soften. Add the garlic and cook for just a minute. Add in the kale.
5. Pour in the wine. Bring the wine to a light simmer and add the chicken broth, thyme sprigs, bay leaf and about 4 sprigs of the parsley along with the chicken and lentils.
6. Cover the pot and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 to 1 hour and 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
7. Add the cornstarch to the water and make a slurry.  Add to the pot to thicken.
8. Sprinkle the remaining leaves of parsley over the top and serve.