Patates Au Vin

Patates Au Vin

So I’ve been living in Pondicherry for 3 years now and this will be the first classic French dish that I have tried making -shame! I ate coq au vin a year ago - well tasted the sauce & veggies from my husband’s plate is more like it since I don’t eat meat, and I remember really liking it a lot. For some strange reason it didn’t occur to me to try the recipe with a vegetarian spin. I guess I had a mind block that this was one of those recipes that worked well only with chicken. Then last week, I tested the recipe and replaced the chicken with potatoes. I prepared the potatoes exactly the way chicken is prepared for this dish and viola - patates au vin was discovered. And guess what - its delicious and vegan friendly.

I was very happy with the taste both times I made the recipe. I couldn’t find any fresh thyme (both times) and had to use the dried version - but I do recommend using fresh thyme for it. You need to dredge the potatoes in some flour because that flour when cooked forms the base of a thick sauce. Also, I seasoned the potatoes with paprika to make up for the smokiness you get from the bacon in the original recipe.

Its a vegetarian recipe so its needs a lot less time to cook - since there is no chicken involved you can skip the step of cooking it in the oven. It cooks up pretty fast. You do need red wine for it though- without that it wont be au vin and would be just be some regular vegetable stew. I used shiraz in my recipe because that’s what I had on hand - it could be technically a wrong choice of wine, but I was happy with how it tasted. If you are confused, just use a dry red wine and you should be golden. Try this recipe and let me know if it excited you as much as it excited me?!

Patates Au Vin

Patates Au Vin

Patates Au Vin

Patates Au Vin

Serving 2 to 3 people

Cooking time 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into thick wedges

1 carrot, peeled and cut into thick wedges

1 white onion, roughly chopped

1 cup mushrooms, quartered

few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3/4 cup red dry wine

1 1/2 cup vegetable stock

1 tbsp + 1 tsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

salt & pepper

  1. Season the potato wedges with salt, pepper and paprika.
  2. Heat olive oil in a deep pan on medium heat.
  3. Dredge the potato wedges in 1 tbsp flour and fry till they turn golden on all sides. Use tongs to move them around in the pan to avoid breaking the potatoes.
  4. Remove the potatoes from the pan onto a plate and keep aside.
  5. In the same pan and oil, add onions and garlic and stir to cook till the onions turn pink.
  6. Add carrots and mushrooms and continue to cook for a minute.
  7. Add thyme and some salt and stir. Add the 1 tsp flour and cook for about 30 to 45 seconds.
  8. Add the potatoes back and stir till everything is coated well with the flour and thyme.
  9. Add wine and stir. Add the stock and stir till well combined.
  10. Cover and cook on low for about 12 to 15 minutes. You want the the sauce to thicken up and the vegetables to cook through.
  11. Taste to adjust seasoning. Serve over rice or with a french baguette.
Category : Entree, Vegan
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