Ideally, I would like to try and cook something relevant for major celebratory international holiday; but it just never happens. I decided to embrace my inner French mademoiselle this year and cook up a coq au vin for Bastille Day. It turns out I missed the "French" theme in the cookbook challenge, so this is my late entry.


The recipe calls for 800g of spring onions. I didn't have that much, so I topped up the rest with a red onion I had sitting in the fridge, as well as a brown onion. Luckily for me, the recipe still turned out simply formidable!
The chicken was incredibly tender and juicy, which you definitely wouldn't get if you used breast meat. The lovely rich sauce with the bacon and mushrooms makes it a lovely comforting winter meal.

Relatively simple to make as well, and with such tasty results, this won't be the last time I'll be making coq au vin. Hamsley came home before a work dinner and said it smelt so good he didn't want to have dinner out. Luckily for him.... and me, there are plenty of leftovers for us to eat today, on Bastille Day; followed by a soufflé.

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Having looked at recipes for lamb shanks for as long as I've had this blog, I decided it was about time I made them. I picked up 4 for $16 on a trip to the South Melbourne market, as well as a variety of other ingredients I needed to make this recipe.

I chose this recipe as I love tomato based sauces. I probably should have cut the tomatoes a bit smaller though, as Hamsley isn't the world's biggest fan of cooked tomato. However, he thought it was delicious, and happily ate the leftovers.

I started cooking them at about 1pm in the afternoon, and just LOVED the smell coming from the kitchen as they simmered away.

I served the shanks with a creamy, smooth mashed potato. I picked up a drum sift near the markets, and passed my potatoes through it before adding milk and butter.

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