Maggie cooks an adventurous dinner

Because it was New Year's Ever last night I decided to get all fancy and make dinner for my friend who was coming over. I ended up deciding to make chicken coq au vin. (Since it had a French name it sounded very sophisticated to me.) The way I made it it seemed rather like a chicken stew but it turned out surprisingly well so I was happy and my friend liked it so that was a bonus! I found that the best thing about recipes is improvisation! It took about an hour to make in total.  Here's what I put into the mix (makes more than enough for two women to eat and have a lot left over!):

1 package of chicken thighs (slightly more than a pound)
1 clove of garlic chopped
4 mushrooms
1 cup of red wine
1 cup of chicken broth (or enough to cover the chicken when it's cooked) 
Chopped onion (as desired-can't remember how much I put in but it wasn't a lot)
 some salt and pepper
thyme (as desired can't remember how much I put in either but it wasn't a lot)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
3 Tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of softened butter
Sat and pepper (sparingly)

I first chopped up the mushrooms, garlic, and onion. Then I got the chicken thighs out and put salt and  pepper on it. I then put just enough oil in a frying pan to coat the bottom but not thickly. I put the chicken in and let it cook on medium heat until it was done thoroughly but not fried completely. I turned down the heat slightly and added the onions mushrooms, bay leaf, thyme, and garlic along with the red wine, tomato paste and chicken broth. I took the chicken pieces out of the pan and put them in a bowl. I then covered the sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. While it was simmering, in a separate bowl off the heat, I mixed the butter and flour together. Then once it had simmered down a bit, I poured the sauce into the butter and flour mixture to thicken it. Finally I put the chicken in the sauce and it was done!  Just to be healthy I heated some frozen vegetables for about 5 minutes and boiled some potatoes until I could stick a knife through them and have it come out clean. The end result with the chicken and sauce and potatoes and vegetables on the side was quite nice!

I also made a salad of spinach, sliced onion, sliced mushrooms (left over from the Coq au Vin) cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, candied almonds orange flavored cranberries and small pear slices and topped it with oil and vinegar dressing. 

Overall the whole dinner went off really well and it was a lovely meal to end the year!