12 December 2016

Chicken fricassee with carrots, from the old Berry province (1)

Finally, a blanquette with carrots in it! Because that's what this recipe for fricasseed chicken from the Berry seems to be. Here's the first part of the recipe for the Berry-style chicken fricassee. It's like most classic French dishes — it contains very few ingredients because the idea is to appreciate each ingredient and not overwhelm the palate.

Fricassée de poulet à la berrichonne
Chicken fricassee with carrots and cream

1 chicken, cut into 10 pieces

300 g (10 oz.) carrots

2 or 3 Tbsp. butter

400 ml (1¾ cups) chicken broth

(1 bouquet garni)

salt and pepper

20 cl (¾ cup) cream

1 pinch sugar

1 tsp. vinegar (or lemon juice)



Brown the carrots in butter. Use them whole if they are small, or cut into pieces if they are large.



As soon as the carrots are well browned, remove them from the pan and, in the butter where they have browned, cook the chicken pieces.


When the chicken pieces are just slightly golden, pour in the boiling-hot broth or water.

If you're using well-seasoned broth, there's no need for a bouquet garni, but if you're using water, add a bouquet garni now.



Add the carrots. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar (or teaspoon of honey). Cook for 45 minutes in the oven at about 325ºF (160ºC).

Here is a link to the rest of the recipe...





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To be continued tomorrow. No time this morning. We're headed over to Tours to do some furniture shopping...

13 comments:

  1. The chicken looks delicious.
    Have fun in Tours.........!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope you had a nice birthday. And I hope you have a good day tomorrow.

      We found what we were looking for — a new sectional sofa for upstairs, and a good wall-mounted storage cabinet for the bathroom.

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  2. Furniture shopping.... intrigued!
    Pauline did a lovely plain chicken dish yesterday...
    roast garden roots and alliums...
    and the last of LAST years pumpkins...
    with a couple of chicken legs roasted on top of them...
    just some oil, salt and pepper...and fresh thyme from the old herb garden.
    This was had with tenderstem sprouting brocoli and small spuds boiled in their skins.
    No other flavourin's, nuttin'!
    'Twas truly delishcioush... each flavour stood alone...
    we've half the veggy bits left and I think we'll have soss with those tonight!
    With possibly the addition of some glazed carrots.....
    yours above have got the saliva flowing!

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  3. Replies
    1. A new sectional sofa for the loft, and a new storage cabinet for the bathroom. Success!

      Delete
  4. Now you can take your carrots out of the French classic blanquette de veau à l'ancienne and put them, and more, in a blanquette de veau à la berrichonne or a blanquette de veau à la mareuilloise! This version looks delish!

    Lover of carrots that I am, I'm sure I'd enjoy this berrichonne dish tremendously. BTW, did you try yet caramelized carrots?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never said that my blanquette was “à l'ancienne” LOL! I was making a blanquette à la moderne, for all I knew. From this point on, it will be a fricassée de veau à la berrichonne. Saint-Aignan-en-Berry-style.

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  5. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the recipe. Would a bit of wine work with the broth ? My MIL cooked chicken like this often and just finished it off on the stove top. The carrots are genius- I am definitely making this soon, but with chicken breasts.

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    Replies
    1. I put some white wine in my chicken broth, along with leek tops, shallots, garlic, black peppercorns, and allspice berries. The carrots are good, but I could imagine doing the same dish with turnips or parsnips.

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  6. Your comment about not cutting the carrots if they are small reminds me of the baby vegetable trend from a few years back. We see various mini veg in the store here. Is that also the case in France?

    Looking forward to seeing a pic of your new sectional.

    I now know what to send chm for Christmas: carrotes.

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  7. I would eat all the carrots :) I think it is too much for me to make just for myself .. so I will just come to your house for dinner ... yeah, I know, I have brilliant ideas.

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