French Cooking: Week 2

Saturday night: Poulet au Riesling (Sauteed Chicken in Riesling)

From Paris by Marlena Spieler

Unfortunately, this dish probably does not qualify as "quick and easy." But it was SO GOOD that I feel the need to share it anyway. It wasn't necessarily hard to do; it was just a rather long process - good for a special occasion. I also must confess that Chris thought the Riesling flavor was a bit too strong (though I loved it), so you may want to look for a milder bottle if strong flavors tend to overwhelm you. Finally, let me tell you that since I am only cooking for two people, the proportions when I made the recipe were a bit off, and it still turned out wonderful. Here's the recipe, but in the instructions, I have included my own comments and adjustments that I made.

1. Prepare the chicken pieces. In Paris, free-range birds are all the rage for fine cooking. They are given a special Red Label per government quality control signifying that they arepoulet fermier, or farm-raised. Being completely new to this, I boldly went to the market in search of a poulet fermier, and settle on a poulet jaune, a yellowish bird that was about in the middle price wise of the options. The volallieur assured me that the jaune birds were a little fattier (and therefore tastier) than the white ones. Anyway, they chopped off the head for me, burned the rest of the little hairs off (it had already been de-feathered), and tied it up... Quite the gruesome experience. So when I got home, I had to cut it up. I found a video on youtube to be the most helpful, so I won't go into detail, but I will say that half a chicken (one leg and thigh, one wing, two breast pieces) was plenty for two people. I have no idea how many pounds of chicken that was, but I simply cut the rest of the recipe in half, and the proportions turned out fine. I wrapped the other half of the chicken to use later this week. Be sure to wash your chicken pieces after cutting them up (especially if you cut yourself like I did while butchering it), though, and feel free to simply buy either a cheap whole chicken or pieces already cut; I just wanted the Parisian experience.
2. Preheat the oven to 350. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and olive oil, then brown the chicken in a large, heavy, non-stick pan (in batches, if necessary, so the chicken has room to brown). About 10-15 minutes per batch, then transfer to a platter.
3. Pour off all but 1 T of fat from the pan and return to medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and saute until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the Riesling, bring it to a boil, and cook until reduced by half, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms*, stock, and half the tarragon. Pour the sauce into a roasting pan at least 4 inches deep (though for half a recipe, I just used a 9x13 pyrex and it worked just fine) and large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer. Arrange the chicken on the sauce. *Note: I actually used fresh chanterelle mushrooms (because it was all I could find at the market), and they were WONDERFUL. I used about double what the recipe called for, though, since they were fresh rather than dried, but I still cut them up very fine. It worked.
4. Bake the chicken until opaque throughout, 35-40 minutes. Raise the heat to 400 and continue baking until the edges of the skin are crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to your serving platter (leave the sauce in the roasting pan) and cover with foil to keep warm.
5. Spoon off any fat from the sauce. Place the pan directly on the stove over high heat, bring the sauce to a boil, and cook, stirring until reduced by about half, 7-8 minutes.
6. Stir in the cream* and then season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice (if desired). Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with the chives, chervil, and remaining tarragon. Serve at once. *Note: I've been using creme fraiche when recipes call for heavy cream. It's kind of a cross between heavy cream and sour cream, and it is AMAZING. But I'm sure heavy cream will be just as good.
7. I served it with haricots verts (I know, I use these a lot, but they're so beautiful at the market, and they are very easy to throw on the stove while I'm working on a more complicated main dish). I know this recipe is rather involved, but I do hope you'll try it sometime because it was delicious. And I don't think it would be nearly so complicated if your chicken was already cut. In fact, plain old boneless chicken breasts would probably taste great, too.

Sunday Brunch: Crepes with Various Fillings

From Paris by Marlena Spieler

These were SO fun to make. It was kind of a team-sport, as we played with fillings for the crepes. The crepe batter only took about 5 minutes to mix up, and then the fun began... I think having a non-stick pan that really works is probably the most essential thing. And be sure as you are trying to flip the crepes that you wait long enough for the edges to pull away a little on their own; that's the only way you'll be able to flip them without tearing them.

1. Whisk together the eggs, milk, and water. Whisk in the flour, sugar, salt, 1 T melted butter, and oil, whisking to remove as many lumps as possible.
2. Place a crepe pan or non-stick frying pan with low sides over medium heat. I used one about 11" across the bottom; anything close to 10" would be great. Let it heat up completely then brush with butter and ladle 1/4 c to 1/2 c of batter (depending on the size of your pan). Immediately swirl the pan around so the batter spreads into a thin layer covering the bottom, then pour any excess batter back into the bowl.
3. Cook until the bottom of the crepe is lightly browned in spots and the edges pull away slightly from the pan sides, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully turn and cook for about 30 seconds on the second side. Turn the crepe out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter, stacking the crepes as you go and brushing the hot pan with melted butter between crepes.
4. Once you've used all the batter, get ready for the filling! To fill a crepe, place a crepe, browned side down, in the still warm (over medium heat) pan. You have two options: 1) spread 1/2 the crepe with the filling and let warm then fold the other half over to close the crepe. Then fold the entire thing again to make a triangle. 2) you can put the filling in the middle of the crepe and fold in the sides to make a little square. We tried a variety of fillings: eggs with herbs and cheese (you can technically cook these through the crepe, but I chose to cook in a pan them first since risking raw eggs when you're pregnant is not so wise), honey, butter with cinnamon and sugar, peanut butter, and nutella. I recommend them ALL, though save the honey for last, as it tends to run into the pan and make the rest of the crepes taste a bit like honey.

Butter, cinnamon, and sugar (pre-fold, obviously):

Egg, herbs, and cheese:

Nutella... yummm....

Unfortunately, the rest of the week was not as successful. We only attempted two more truly French recipes, and one was a complicated veal stew (Blanchette de Veau) which I thought was not nearly as good as a simple pepper pot stew. The other was a chicken dish accompanied by au gratin potatoes (which are always good, of course), but I didn't think the chicken was really anything special. It did look rather pretty, though:

I'll only have a few recipes for you this next week because I leave Tuesday for the US. Stay tuned, though, because so far the one I tried today was wonderful!!