Coq Au Vin a la Raymond Blanc

New Year is not far away now and I'm planning to start preparing this feast tomorrow so it has time to mature in the fridge ready to be served as New Years Day Dinner.   Okay, I know it hardly rates as a simple supper so hoping to convince you here's what Raymond Blanc's Foolproof French Cookery book has to say .........

This dish demonstrates what is really good about French cuisine – conviviality, friends and laughter, simple hearty food, rustic bread dipped into the sauce and the heady red wine that will be drunk. Time stops. That is why this dish has become totally timeless and loved by most. Despite a certain degree of complication, it is a must for a fantastic dinner party.    

Ingredients Required

1.5kg Chicken, (free range or organic), cut into 10 pieces (ask your butcher to prepare this)

1 heaped tbsp Plain flour

2 tbsp Olive oil

2 pinches Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the marinade

1 litre Full-bodied red wine, such as Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon

3 Medium carrots, cut into slanted slices 1 cm (1/2 in) thick

2 Celery sticks, cut into slices 1 cm (1/2 in) thick

20 Baby onions, peeled but left whole

1 Bouquet garni (parsley stalks, 2 bay leaves, 6 sprigs thyme tied together)

1 tsp Black peppercorns, crushed

For the garnish

1 tbsp Olive oil

200g Smoked streaky bacon, rind removed, diced

400g Small button mushrooms, trimmed

1 tbsp Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method

Marinating the chicken

Bring the red wine to the boil and boil until reduced by a third, to remove the alcohol and concentrate the colour and flavour. Leave to cool. In a bowl, mix the chicken pieces, carrots, celery, baby onions, peppercorns and bouquet garni together and pour the cooled red wine over them. Cover with cling film, refrigerate and leave to marinate for 24 hours.  Place a colander over a large bowl and put the chicken mixture in it to drain off the marinade. Leave for a minimum of 1 hour to remove excess liquid. Separate the chicken, vegetables and herbs, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Season the chicken with 4 pinches of salt and 4 pinches of freshly ground black pepper. Reserve the liquid.

Toasting the flour

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Sprinkle the flour on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 8–10 minutes, until it is very lightly coloured. Set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2.

Frying the chicken

On a high heat, in a large, heavy-based casserole, heat the olive oil and colour the chicken pieces in it for 5–7 minutes on each side. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside. Add the drained vegetables and herbs to the casserole. Lower the heat to medium high and cook for 5 minutes, until lightly coloured.

Making the sauce

Spoon out most of the fat from the casserole, add the toasted flour and stir into the vegetables for a few seconds. On a medium heat, whisk in the wine marinade little by little; this will create a sauce and prevent lumps forming. Bring to the boil and skim any impurities from the surface. The wine marinade will be slightly thickened and have the consistency of a light sauce. Add the chicken pieces and return to the boil. Cover with a lid and cook in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Finishing the sauce

If you wish you can serve the coq au vin as it is. But should you prefer a richer, more powerful sauce, drain it through a colander and, on a high heat, boil the sauce until it has reduced by one third. It should have acquired more body and become a rich, vinous colour. Pour the sauce back over the chicken and vegetables.

Cooking the garnish

Over a medium heat, in a medium non-stick frying pan, heat the olive oil and cook the diced bacon in it for 30 seconds. Add the button mushrooms and cook for a further 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix the diced bacon and button mushrooms into the coq au vin. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve piping hot, straight from the casserole.

Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup with Pancetta

As usual, I bought too much veg this Christmas and so have used up most of the left overs by making this hearty soup.  We ate this following a crunchy underfoot walk with the dogs through the frosty forest.  The crispy pancetta added as a garnish really lifted the flavours in the soup.  Left over veg - sorted! Not a great photo, but it tasted lovely.

Ingredients
Any left over veg but I used:
Half a swede, peeled and roughly chopped
2 large parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 whole peeled cloves of garlic
1 large leek, cut into chunks
2 sprigs of press thyme
1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
Olive or rapeseed oil
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock, up to 500ml additional stock may be needed
Cream, optional
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.  Put all your veg and herbs into a large roasting tin.  Toss in olive or rapeseed oil and roast for 30 minutes or until cooked through with some lovely crisp toasted edges.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Using a stick blender or a food processor, blitz until smooth, then gradually add the stock, season to taste.   For a smoother texture pass it through a sieve into a large saucepan pushing the veg through using the back of a ladle.  Return to the heat in a large saucepan, adding more stock if you prefer and thinner soup.  Finally add in some cream to taste and serve with some crispy grilled bacon or pancetta.

Caribbean Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas

As my elder sister is sunning herself cruising in the Caribbean I thought I'd warm up our frosty sunny weather with some jerk chicken.  Fresh and zingy with lime and makes a refreshing change from all our traditional Christmas food.  Definitely not cooking it on the BBQ though! 

Ingredients

12 chicken thighs, bone in or 1 whole chicken, spatchcocked, about 1.5kg

1 lime, halved

For the jerk marinade

1 big bunch spring onions, roughly chopped

thumb-sized piece ginger, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves

½ a small onion

2 scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded if you want less heat

½ tsp dried thyme

Juice 1 lime

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp ground allspice

1 teasp salt.

For the rice & peas

200g basmati rice

400g can coconut milk

1 bunch spring onions, sliced

2 large thyme sprigs

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 teasp ground allspice

2 x 410g cans kidney beans, drained.

Method

To make the jerk marinade, combine all the ingredients in a food processor along with 1 teasp salt, and blend to a purée. Eventually it will start to blend up – don’t be tempted to add water, as you want a thick paste. Taste the jerk mixture for seasoning – it should taste pretty salty, but not unpleasantly, salty. If it tastes too salty and sour, try adding in a bit more brown sugar until the mixture tastes well balanced.

Make a few slashes in the chicken and pour the marinade over the meat, rubbing it into all the crevices. Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.  It’s great cooked on the BBQ but as it’s freezing outside at the moment this will go in the house oven.

To cook in the oven, heat to 180C. Put the chicken pieces in a roasting tin with the lime halves and cook for 45 minutes until tender and cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rice & peas. Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water, then tip it into a large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except the kidney beans. Season with salt, add 300ml cold water and set over a high heat. Once the rice begins to boil, turn it down to a medium heat, cover and cook for 10 mins.

Add the beans to the rice, then cover with a lid. Leave off the heat for 5 mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Squeeze the roasted lime over the chicken and serve with the rice & peas, and some hot sauce if you like it really spicy.

Adapted from a John Torode recipe. 

Roasted Sprouts with Bacon Lardons

Merry Christmas!  We ate late and enjoyed the spatchcock turkey with fennel and orange, roasted potatoes, buttered swede, carrots roasted in cumin, gorgeous gravy and finally this recipe for simple roasted sprouts.  The original recipe called for a roasting time of 30 minutes, this is too long in my humble opinion so have changed the recipe to 20 minutes, I suppose it depends how well you like them cooked. 

Ingredients

1½ kg brussels sprouts, trimmed

200g smoked bacon lardons

1 tsp vegetable oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

.

Method

Heat oven to 220C. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the sprouts and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water.

Toss the sprouts with all the other ingredients in a bowl and season with a pinch of salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Tip onto a large baking tray in a single layer. Put in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through, until the bacon is crispy and the sprouts are golden and tender.

Stuffed Slow Roasted Shoulder of Pork

A slow roasted stuffed shoulder of pork goes a long way in our family at Christmas time.  The children will arrive tomorrow to the smell of roasted pork and our supper will be hot pork sandwiches with stuffing and gravy served  in beautiful bread rolls, what’s not to like about that.  Then on the big day, slices of pork will sit alongside the spatchcocked turkey.  Any leftovers, will be finished off as part of the Boxing Day buffet, Sonia’s Soiree, as my sisters call our family feast.  This is adapted from Genarro and Jamie Oliver’s recipe.  You can’t go wrong!

Ingredients

3 kg boned shoulder of pork, butterflied and skin on

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper.

For the stuffing

2 onions, peeled and finely diced

Olive oil

200 g chicken livers, cleaned and roughly chopped

75 g pine nuts

100g breadcrumbs

100 g raisins or dried cranberries

½ bunch fresh sage, leaves picked and roughly chopped

½ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped

1 wineglass red wine or mulled wine, plus a drop extra for the stuffing

8 carrots.

Method

Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Lay the boned shoulder of pork on a board, skin-side down, and season well with a few really good sprinkles of salt and pepper. Massage this seasoning all over the meat.

Put a large pan on a medium heat and fry the diced onion in a lug of olive oil for about 10 minutes and when it's softened and sweetened but not coloured, turn the heat down to low and add the chopped chicken livers. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together. Add the pine nuts, raisins, breadcrumbs, chopped sage and parsley, then season with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour in a splash of red or mulled wine, give everything a good stir then take your pan off the heat.

Put the stuffing in a bowl and put it to one side to cool down. Once your stuffing has completely cooled, spoon all of it down the middle of the opened shoulder. Roll the meat up quite tightly then tie it up as tightly as you can with 4 or 5 pieces of string. Dry the skin with kitchen roll, season with salt and pepper and rub the seasoning all over the skin to help it turn into delicious crackling. Lay the carrots across the middle of the roasting tray and put the meat on top. Pour a glass of red or mulled wine and a glass of water in the bottom of the tray then put the meat in the oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 180°C for about 4 hours until lovely and golden. Once it's out of the oven carefully remove the skin and break it into chunks of delicious crackling, then carve the meat.  Bellisimo!