Here's my recipe book with a few snippets of our family history thrown in for good luck. Visitors are welcome too!

Poulet au Vinaigre.


Serves 4-6

When we went on our big trip when you were young, and we stayed in that converted barn in Champ de Lux, there was a French cooking recipe book there. That’s where I got this recipe from, and that night that you remember trying your first Burgundy wine, I made it. Perhaps it was to make up for our first meal, which was ‘Stone Soup’! Of course we’ve made ‘Poulet’ in many countries and for many special occasions since. But it always takes me back to that week in France, the day we went to the Cirque de Baume, and the time you’ll always remember that I forgot which way the door opened, and got stuck briefly in that telephone box. I usually double the sauce part because it’s so delicious people always seem to want more with their rice. And I usually use thighs or legs, rather than jointing a whole chicken.

Ingredients:

 2 ripe medium-sized tomatoes
 150 ml dry white wine
 1 chicken cut into 8 serving pieces
 salt and freshly-ground pepper
 2 pinches salt
 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
 6 Tbsp tarragon vinegar
 1 oz (25 gm) butter
 6 cloves peeled garlic
 150 ml heavy (double) cream or creme fraiche
 1 tsp strong mustard

Method:

  1. Peel, de-seed and chop tomatoes.
  2. Seasin chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a non-stick saute pan and add butter. As soon as it is melted. add chicken pieces and garlic cloves, and cook until golden brown (10 minutes approx).
  3. Pour in vinegar and let it evaporate. Stir in wine and tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Cook 45 minutes, stirring from time to time.
  4. While chicken is cooking, combine cream and mustard in a small bowl.
  5. Remove cooked chicken from the pan and keep warm. Strain the cooking juices through a fine sieve into a saucepan, crushing the garlic to a paste. Boil over a high heat until syrupy (about 5 minutes). Add the mustard mixture and boil over a high heat 2 minutes to produce a thick, creamy sauce. Pour over chicken and serve immediately.

I usually serve this with a big bowl of jasmine rice and a tossed green salad.

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