I experimented with French Cooking today, September 9, 2018. From the book French Country Cooking: Meals and Moments From a Village in the Vineyards by Mimi Thorisson, I cooked the dish Poulet Chasseur —the Hunter’s Chicken. This is the french version of a Continental dish which has an Italian alternative that involves a tomato sauce and cheese. The French version is distinguished by a large helping of onions, shallots and garlic. With mushrooms and a bouquet garnit the dish becomes very aromatic with fresh and uncooked tarragon served atop the dish. The sauce was delicious, though the butter is calorious. But the butter is so tasty and makes the sauce so smooth, it becomes all worth it. This is a dish for Autumn. It would go well with green beens and glazed carrots. For dessert, Mimi Thorisson's Every Day Pear Cake with Royal Tokaji would be superb. While white wine is heavily used in the sauce, I believe Pinot Noir from Burgundy would be a perfect pairing for dinner. Though we didn’t have any Pinot on hand, so we simply used the left over Chablis, and that was wonderful. This is a classic French country dish. The kind of dish that brings to mind hearth and home and the love of family and friends. When serving though, I recommend reducing the serving size because the sauce is so very filling. Perhaps 4 oz of chicken breast would be ideal with the sauce. The recipe calls for dark meat, which would probably be delicious but paired with this sauce would be too heavy for my tastes. How to get the taste without the waddle is the key to this dish. My answer is to go light on the sauce and light on the chicken.
The sauce was deliciously aromatic and buttery smooth. The flavors combined well. The wife and I shared one large chicken breast and both now feel very full.
What is it that captures the heart of the French and their love of food and wine? This dish demonstrates layers of flavor, cognac, wine, chicken broth, butter, olive oil, thyme, bay leaves, tarragon, onions, mushrooms, shallots, garlic and parsley — all brought together as a symphony of flavors. Cheers to the French! It is apparent from Thorisson's excellent book that the French love of life is the key to their devotion to flavor. And for that the world’s culinary experience is so much more delightful.
A link to this recipe is here:https://www.domino.com/content/mimi-thorisson/
A link to this recipe is here:https://www.domino.com/content/mimi-thorisson/
