4 - French onion soup with homemade french bread

http://www.cookinfrance.com/recipe-french-onion-soup.html

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1488/french-bread.aspx

Our last French dish: traditional french onion soup with homemade french bread - yummy and warming. 

The messiest and most painful recipe so far (sunglasses a must unless you wear normal glasses!)


I cooked the soup in a large soup pot but if you don't have one of these just use a large saucepan.  You may need to reduce the amount of onions to 4 though as I struggled to get the onions into my large pot as is was.  I warmed the butter in the pot before adding the onions.  They went translucent within 5 minutes but for some reason they didn't brown as they caramelised.  I think that the amount of onions prevented this process and when I make this again I will fry the onions in batches before adding them to the large pot.  A quick taste test, however, confirmed that they were caramelising; the harshness of the onions had been replaced by sweetness.  I added chicken stock and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes as suggested in the recipe.  

While the soup was simmering I began making the bread.  This was my first time making bread and I have to say that I was a bit nervous about it.  I followed the instructions exactly and was pleasantly surprised by the way the dough transformed as I kneaded it.  I worked on the dining table as it is much lower than my kitchen work surface and this meant that I could put more of my weight into the kneading process which made it much easier.  

My house isn't particularly warm so I rested the dough at both stages in front of the fire which pleased my cat immensely!  

I couldn't buy dried polenta so simply brushed the bread with the egg mixture twice as recommended.  I can understand totally how baking bread sells houses - what a delicious smell!


Returning to the soup now, I needed to research making the beurre manier or manie as I didn't have a clue.  The following website has easy to follow steps and mine looked exactly the same - a success.
http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcookingtechniques/ss/beurremanie_4.htm


I added the beurre manier in small pieces whilst stirring constantly.  As the link above suggested the butter melted evenly and prevented lumps of flour forming in the soup.  I will definitely use the technique in future soups I make.  I seasoned well with black pepper.


I broke off a chunk of bread and topped with generous amounts of grated gruyere cheese before grilling and serving in these pretty le creuset dishes.  

Bon appétit!

   

3 - Bouillabaisse fish stew

http://www.letscookfrench.com/recettes/recette.cfm?num_recette=53

So, we're still in France and this is a really French classic, bouillabaisse fish stew.  I've adapted the recipe  slightly to accommodate those without a pressure cooker so I did this in a casserole dish in the oven.  

To begin with let me go through some of the ingredients I bought for this dish.  I selected frozen basa fish fillets as they're low in fat and reasonably priced.  In my local supermarket there's always an offer on king prawns so I was able to buy two packs of jumbo king prawns for £5 which is a bargain, although I only used half a packet for this recipe and froze the rest.  The mussels were jarred.  I used red onions for sweetness and colour in addition to the leeks.

The base of the stew is a series of layers: potatoes, leeks/onions and tomatoes.  I'd recommend being consistent with the thickness of the vegetables to ensure they cook evenly.  I added 2/3 bottle of dry white wine and a pinch of saffron - very expensive and has a strong flavour so I think a pinch is enough.  The stew is supposed to have a soup-like consistency so I also added two cups of water along with some garlic and a chicken stock cube for added flavour.

I laid the basa fillets on top of the vegetables and sprinkled the rinsed mussels and prawns over the top.  The stock cube already added saltiness to the dish, so I added lots of freshly ground black pepper before putting a lid on the dish and putting it in my preheated oven (180 degrees) for 45 minutes.  After, I took the lid off and added a teaspoon of cornflour liquid to the dish and gave it a light stir.  I then returned the dish to the oven for a further 20 minutes.

I served the bouillabaisse on plates but it would work equally as well in soup bowls with some fresh french bread for dunking!


Bon appétit!

         

2 - Coq au Vin

http://raymondblanc.com/Portals/14/docs/Coq_au_Vin.pdf

http://palinstravels.co.uk/static-7

Phileas Fogg travels through France by rail on his way to Suez.  The map above shows the first part of the route taken by Michael Palin in his take on the famous journey in 1988.

After crossing the channel we are now in France.  My research takes on traditional French cuisine and, through my own knowledge of French food, I begin by looking up Coq au Vin which I have cooked before but never to a recipe.  My version is a regular chicken casserole with red wine so not really authentic at all rather a lazy take on the classic.  I decided to have a go at cooking Raymond Blanc's recipe on the recommendation of my friend whose fiancee is French and often tries out Raymond's food both from cook books and at our local Brasserie Blanc in Milton Keynes.  I've eaten here as well and enjoyed the experience and rich yet delicate flavours very much.

The dish is a fairly simple one but the chicken needs to be marinated for 24hours for the meat to take on the richness of flavour recommended by Raymond.  For this recipe I have used free-range chicken; I always do when cooking chicken and don't understand why people buy free-range eggs but not free-range chicken.  I appreciate that it's more expensive but the size and flavour of the chicken is excellent and well worth the extra pound or two.  I bought 'be good to yourself' smoked bacon to reduce the amount of fat in the recipe and didn't add any of the butter, oil or salt suggested.

I decided to use red onions to add sweetness and colour to the dish and chantenay baby carrots for looks more than anything.  I had some leftover large mushrooms which I sliced instead of using the baby ones.

Getting the marinade ready the night before cooking was a bit of pain as the kitchen smelt lovely and I knew that I wouldn't be enjoying the meal until the following evening.  I prepared the dish as per the recipe and added a free-range chicken stock cube for enhanced flavour as I was concerned that the dish may lack some depth without the butter and lardons.

The sauce needed to be thickened a little so I added some cornflour to create the rich gravy and served it with chunky fresh bread.  The result:  A hearty, warming Coq au Vin with incredibly rich flavours and depth.  Yummy and great for cosy evenings in when it's cold outside.

Bon appétit!