Coq au Vin Rosettes

Fancy looking, rich and creamy, full of fat, simply wonderful; best of all - easy to make.

Coq au Vin is a classic French dish of chicken cooked in wine often along with garlic and mushrooms. What you will notice is that this recipe is an adaptation on such a classic chicken recipe. You will also notice that you will not find wine - drinking or cooking - in the ingredient list here. The recipe originally called for cooking wine, but I substituted it with chicken broth. Now, I often use cooking wine when making a savory dish, but I am currently pregnant and didn't want to risk that all the alcohol not cooking off. So, if you want you can use a cooking wine instead, but the chicken broth worked marvelously.

I started off this post stating that this was a fancy looking, rich, full of fat recipe, which indeed it is. But notice I also put easy to make, which it is and which makes this a great recipe for entertaining guests. These little rosettes look great on the plate and will impress your guests with their shape and more importantly their taste. Just make sure that your guests like cheese, because indeed these are loaded with four kinds of cheese: cream cheese, cottage cheese, Mozzarella cheese, and Muenster cheese. Because of this I would suggest serving these rosettes alongside a nice green salad.

Coq au Vin Rosettes
Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
Pictures by Caroline
serves 4

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or 3 medium)
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
6 lasagna noodles
6 oz cream cheese, cut up
1/3 cup cottage cheese
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/3 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup shredded Muenster cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. In a skillet melt butter over medium-high heat. Add chicken and begin to brown on one side. Flip chicken to second side and add mushrooms and onion; cook for another 4 or 5 minutes until vegetables are tender and chicken is mostly cooked. Add chicken broth, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring just to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Halve each noodle lengthwise. Curl each noodle half into a 2 1/2-inch diameter ring; place noodle rings, cut sides down, in a rectangular baking dish. Using a slotted spoon, spoon chicken mixture into center of noodle rings, reserving the liquid in skillet. Add the cream cheese to reserved liquid; heat and stir just until cream cheese is melted.
3. In a small bowl stir together sour cream and flour; stir in half-and-half. Add the sour cream mixture and cheeses to the cream cheese mixture in skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Spoon cheese mixture over filled rings in backing dish.
4. Bake, covered, in a 325° oven for 35 minutes or until heated though. Serve immediately.