Fricassée de Poulet à l’Ancienne and Crème au Beurre, Ménagère

“For this traditional Sunday dinner dish, which is not difficult to execute, the chicken pieces are turned in hot butter, sprinkled with four and seasonings, then simmered in wine and white stock.” Julia and her co-authors explain that a fricassée is between a sauté and a stew in that the meat is first cooked in butter and then simmered in liquid. This particular version recommended serving whole mushrooms and onions along with rice or noodles with the cream sauce.

Parsley, thyme, bay leaf

I am still working on my chicken dissection skills and am improving with most of the carves but still struggled with disjoining the legs from the rest of the body. Once the young fryer made its way into about eight pieces, I lightly cooked sliced onions, carrots, and celery in a large casserole and then added the chicken. The chicken needed to be turned every few minutes so that it became only “lightly golden yellow” on each side. After several turns, it was sprinkled with flour, salt, and pepper and then continued to cook for a few minutes on low heat. Then the liquids – stock and wine – were added along with an herb bouquet that included parsley from my garden. Side note: I think these herb bouquets are lovely and would like to see them as a more ecological substitute to flowers at weddings. The chicken then simmered for about 30 minutes until it was cooked through.

Cosy in the casserole

Failed flutes

In the meantime, I prepared the onions and mushrooms. The cross-reference for brazed onions (oignons glacés à blanc) calls for small white onions to be peeled and simmered slowly in butter, white wine, salt, pepper, and an herb bouquet for 40-50 minutes. Simple enough. The stewed mushrooms (champignons à blanc) are cooked so that they maintain their white color. MAFC recommends fluting the mushroom caps in a lovely decorative manner. I couldn’t quite get my knife to work the way the authors describe, but the mushrooms managed to have some texture. The mushrooms were then placed in boiling water, salt, lemon juice, and butter for five minutes.

When the chicken was finished cooking, it was removed from the casserole and the cooking liquid was boiled down. The recipe called for whipping cream to be beaten with egg yolks, but I forgot to buy cream and had to substitute skim milk which seemed to work just fine. The hot liquid was slowly added to the eggs to temper them and then the mixture was returned to the casserole dish and continued to boil down. A little salt, pepper, lemon juice, and nutmeg and the sauce was ready to strain and have the enrichment butter.

Couldn't resist another "ingredients in the kitchen" shot

I used the same steamed rice technique from a few weeks ago but without the addition of mushrooms. The whole dish was served on a platter with the chicken over the rice and garnished with mushrooms and onions and covered in sauce. I understand that aromatics that are cooked with the meat are not usually served, but they are so delicious I can’t help but nibble on them anyway so I placed them on the plate for color and extra flavor.

Bountiful platter

Plated dish

I had additional ladyfingers left over from last week and the authors say are good for at least 10 days and can be served alone or with a butter cream. I chose to make the simplest butter cream mixture with powdered sugar, rum, vanilla extract, and egg yolks. The cream was so rich that I layered only a small amount between two of the cookies in order to stick them together into a small sandwich. I did not think that the butter cream tasted like much other than slightly sweet butter but my guests seemed to like it. I served them with some wonderful fresh cherries.

Ladyfinger cream sandwiches

My friends Brandee and M.E. and her husband Phil joined me for this dinner. Brandee brought the perfect pinot noirs to pair with the richness of the meat. We all agreed that the sauce, as usual, made the dish outstanding and perfectly flavored both the chicken and the rice. M.E. had tasted the ladyfingers in the crème plombières from last week and enjoyed this variation as well, so did Phil who interrupted me mid-sentence to exclaim how good they were. Overall, this was a lovely, hearty meal with good friends and good food.