Wednesday, July 27, 2005
A Tale of Two chickens, Part two
In 2002, I was in France for two weeks.
Never having traveled to France before I was totally prepared with a 16 page excel spreadsheet of places, museums, shops and sites in Paris alone. No slouch, I colour coded and sorted them by areas of Paris. I thought I could 'do' Paris, it just required a bit of planning and research. My sister would be proud.
We did have a hotel in Paris for one week, and a final hotel in the Chantilly area for the night before our departure home. The 'husband' wanted to freewheel through the countryside armed only with extremely bad French and a Michelin map.
This next trip we have reservations for everything, only because, its really better that way for me. I spent all day worried about finding a next hotel, or if we found a good one I just wanted to stay permanently.
As for Paris, I need to brush off those pages as sans le 'husband' my next birthday with 'les girlfriends' and we will be using all those shops he made me walk right by.
So, getting to the point of the other chicken.
Senlis, where we stayed the night before leaving France, is where the book 'Clementine in the Kitchen' starts. I will go back there someday.
As Samuel Chamberlain describes the town before WWII and imagines how it is changing during the war, I wished I paid better attention while I was there. I do remember the charming Catherdral with its lovely war monuments. Particularly, one for a very young priest killed during the war.
The second chicken is from this book and is based on Poulet Cintra. But having no Cintra Port and etc....
I might as well call this Boozey Chicken, but you can feel the artery's hardening as you eat it. But my god it was good and frankly 'French tasting'.
4 chicken Thighs
1/8 cup of butter
1/8 cup of olive oil
1 whole shallot chopped
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1/4 cup of sherry
1/4 cup of white wine
1/8 cup of framboise wine ( which I had, waiting for a purpose)
1/8 cup of brandy
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 egg yolks
Melt butter and oil together, add chopped shallot and garlic and brown chicken until golden brown.
Add all the booze, bring to a boil. Then very carefully with the lid to the pot always on hand and with no overhanging cupboards, seriously, light with a match or I use a barbecue lighter. Baby let it burn, ( and trust me it will burn a bit longer then you would imagine)
Allow to simmer and reduce by half turning the chicken twice and regular intervals. It should take about 35 minutes
Remove chicken to a plate.
Mix the cream and eggs and pour into the sauce, whisking constantly until thickened and careful not to bring it to a boil. Pour over the chicken.
I served with Green beans and a green salad. Oh and bread for the sauce!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
A Tale of Two Chickens, part one
I have finished reading, 'French Leave' by John Burton Race and 'Clementine in the Kitchen' by Samuel Chamberlain.
It is amazing to me that two books written 55 years apart can have so many things in common.
John Burton Race, a two star Michelin Chef based in England, embarked on a year long odyssey of Franco Culinary flavors in 'French Leave'. I had watched the TV program but found the family parts to be utterly annoying.
Reading the 125 page book 'French Leave' I can hear his annoying voice, luckily, the recipes do not come with any sound. The recipes are pages 126 to 211.
I imagine myself, in France this fall, gorging myself on the truffles, breads, sauces and vinaigrette that he has so courteously detailed with exacting recipes.
Clementine in the kitchen, is utterly charming. Clementine is the French cook of an expatriate American family living north of Paris in the 1930's. The story is told by the father of the Beck family. Samuel Chamberlain describes the quaint town of Senlis before the war and how the relationship with 'Clementine' is formed.
Leaving France, the story continues with the family returning to the USA and resettling in Marblehead Mass.
Both books have recipes, what a bonus.
Here are first of the two that I have fiddled with.
My Poulet Basque. ( Serves two)
2 chicken legs with thighs chopped into 4( or 4 thighs, or four legs for that matter)
Olive Oil ( to coat the pan nicely and brown the chicken )
2 Shallots Peeled and Chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic puree ( really just a good shot)
1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper chopped
1 dried chili deseeded
fresh thyme
bay leaf
2/3 cup of white wine
2/3 cup of canned chopped plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/4 cup of chicken broth
1/2 cup sliced black olives
Preheat oven to 425
Brown chicken in olive oil a deep oven proof casserole or deep fry pan, set aside.
Put the shallots, garlic, peppers, thyme, bay leaf and wine into the same pan, bring to a boil and reduce by about half.
Add tomatoes, chicken stock and olives and bring back to a boil. Pour in the vinegar and boil off. Put the chicken back in, cover and pop in the oven for about 35 minutes. I take the lid off for the last ten minutes so the chicken browned.
Fish out the bay leaf and the dried chili, if you can find them.
I served with a 'Rice and Beans' mix from Sobeys, a dash of Sour Cream and a green salad.
It might have been Basque (I have been to Spain and I kind of liked the music) but it reminded me of the Southwest. As a matter of fact I used the dried chili from the Riesta that I bought in Santa Fe.
I love souvenirs that you can cook with.
Leftovers, if so fortunate, can be rolled into a tortilla with cheese and lettuce for a snack or lunch the next day.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Lovely Lamb Chops
This has been a crazy busy week.
The lovely Beverly was here visiting from the west and we had dinner together with Auntie Mary. In caravan we went westward towards Mississauga, to be greeted with warm beer and an equally warm house. Energy conservation is alive and well in the west , of well almost anywhere.
Lovely dinner of which included something I think I have never had in my life, sauerkraut.
Did I run home to make it, sadly no, it has been a busy week.
Lambchops, aside from that obnoxious Sherri person had always been a mystery to me as a sweet luscious meat. Because as I was growing up they were always incinerated burnt offerings with a putrid green jelly.
Grilled slowly on the barbecue until firm and slightly pink, heaven. Tonight served with marinated roasted red peppers and Mosihes vinaigrette coleslaw. YUMMY
Lambchops my Way
Olive oil,
Juice of one half Lemon
Rosemary
Garlic Puree (I have run out of the jarred and am now on to the tube)
Salt and Pepper
Marinate for 30 Minutes at room temp and grill on barbecue
_
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Martha Stewart
Friday, July 15, 2005
Food combos
Yesterday I hosted a learning session for about 25 people and it went fairly well. But the heat is almost unbearable. On the way back to the office I stopped and got a Vanilla Frappacino from Starbucks. Which I slurped all the way along the DVP southbound back into the city. I really like the bottled Starbucks Latte's because of the afternoon perk they give. But as I slurped the frozen concoction which I picked up at the Starbucks store, a strange childhood experience overtook me, ICECREAM HEADACHE!!
But as it is still freaking hot. So last nights dinner was a strange combination. Burgers and sushi cucumber rolls! Homemade burgers, yummy, store bought sushi. The 'husband' ate no sushi preferring to stick with Frito's. Leading me to pose the question, could there be a more perfect combination in food then, Frito's and Cold Beer?
Homemade Burgers
Package of lean ground beef
1 Egg
1 good handful of bread crumbs
dash of Lea and Perrins
teaspoon of garlic
teaspoon of barbecue rub ( it really keeps them juicy)
Mix together form into patties and fire up the grill!
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
What to cook when its hot.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Things I want!! In no particular order
1. An Aga Stove,
2. A bigger kitchen for the Aga Stove
3. A bigger house for the bigger kitchen
4. A Mandolin ( not the musical type, for finely slicing 'cerlerac' and other obnoxiously hard vegetable's)
5. To take a course at the Cordon Bleu cooking school
5. To take a course at the CIA ( Culinary institute of America)
6. To locate a copy of ' The Food Lovers guide to France' by Patricia Wells ( out of print )
7. A Hermes Kelly Bag, ( nothing to do with cooking but I want one anyway........Do you think Oprah would send me one of her old ones?)
8. Sweet, Salty, Spicy, Sour ( a cookbook)
9. Someone to catalogue all my scraps of recipes and put them into some sort of order.
10. A day of unlimited shopping at the Dean and Deluca
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Friday, July 08, 2005
Welcome to my Blog
Welcome to Crazy in the Kitchen, lots of fun here. I would like to introduce myself. I am a 39 year old married woman in Toronto. No kiddies or Pets, too much work. I am trying to teach myself French as I am going to the Dordogne region in September.
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