The Blanquette de Veau, or the fantastic white veal stew from once upon a time

by Pam, Sydney (Australia)

After the controversial Choucroute, now let me introduce you to a dish that is French only. I’d even say quintessentially French. The Blanquette de Veau (or creamy white veal stew).
The only whisper of its name resonates in French minds with mouthwatering sensations of bliss. This dish could be served just about anytime, any season, any occasions, as a homely dinner or as main dish at grand restaurant. Yes! This dish is truly extraordinary!
Indeed, originally from the Lyon region, the Blanquette is probably one of the most ancient French dish around today. It is one of the few dishes recorded to have been served in Parisian restaurants at the time of the Revolution, over 200 years ago! And it’s still going…

Here is my own recipe for you to find out why the Blanquette has such a central place in French cuisine.

• Servings: 4
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 1 hour
  • Cooking: 1.5 hours
• Ingredients:
  • 500g of veal, preferably shoulder meat., diced in approx 3cm x 3cm x 3cm cubes
  • 2 small carrots
  • 1 branch of celery
  • 150g of small button mushrooms
  • 1 small leak
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 100ml of Chardonay wine
  • 20g of butter
  • 1 full tbsp of plain flour
  • 1 egg, yolk only
  • 100ml of thick cream
  • half a lemon
  • 4 bay leaves
  • mixed herbs
  • half a bunch of fresh parsley
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Add the veal in a big pot and simmer in cold water for 30 minutes.
  2. In the meantime, chop the onion, leak and celery thinly.
  3. Cut the parsley branches away from the leaves, chop the leaves thingly.
  4. Quarter the carrots (cut length-wise and accross length-wise) and slice approx 5cm long.
  5. Clean the mushrooms to get rid of the remaining earth.
  6. Bring the water to high heat and leave the veal to boil for approx 10 mins. This is to get rid of the impurities and foam that ay come out. After that, throw away the water and rince the meat.
  7. Add all vegetables in the pot, except the mushrooms. Also add the branches of parsley, not the leaves, clove of garlic, bay leaves, mixed herbs, and veal.
  8. Add the wine and some water until the food is all covered.
  9. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Put the mix to low boiling temperature and leave it for 1 hour over low heat. The pot should be covered.
  11. After 1 hour, add the mushroom in the mix.
  12. In another pot, melt the butter under low heat.
  13. Once the butter is melted, add the flour and mix to create the sauce base.
  14. When the flour has become an homogenous mix with the buttern, add in 3 laddles of the veal boiling stock. Keep mixing.
  15. When the mix is homogenous, remove from heat.
  16. In a large bowl, mix the egg yolk with the cream and juice of squeezed lemon. Use a whip to ensure it’s mixed well.
  17. Slowly add the sauce mix into the bowl. Keep whipping. When all sauce is added, leave the mix to rest.
  18. Add the veal and vegetables in a large bowl. Remove the herbs, bay leaves, branches of parsley and clove of garlic.
  19. Add the white sauce to the veal and vegetables and stir to mix.
  20. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley leaves before serving.
• Notes:
  • Serve with rice or pasta.
  • In this recipe, the vegetables are fully part of the meal. However, if you don’t like any of them, you can remove them at the end. In this case don’t chop or cut and instead leave as a big piece in the stock so it’s easier to take out.
  • For a more meaty effet, you can also use veal osso bucco (see picture). In this case, have 4 bone cuts, or 600g.

Ooey, Gooey, Yet Somewhat Chewy, Mushroom Risotto

by Steve, Sydney (Australia)

This dish was brought to life in the year 1683 when the fussy King Solomon demanded his chef create “a healthy serving of poetry in a bowl”.
The chef was beheaded, and the dish initially considered a failure.But since, it was resurrected due to the high praise from Julia Child’s horticultural technician – who ironically claimed: “it’s a lovely limmerick of flavours”.
Though King’s Solomons chef may have included one ryhme too many, he did manage to create a dish of that is unquestionalbly ooey, gooey, yet somewhat chewy.

It’s rich creamy flavour, combined with fresh ingredients of mushroom, chicken, asparagus, parmesan, and pine nuts makes for a nice hearty autumn dish.

Serve with a nice glass Chablis and crusty bread, snuggled up close to the fire with your lover and/or cat. Follow this up with crême brulée and you will hear ‘purrrrrr’s” all around.

• Servings: 6
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 30 minutes
  • Cooking: 45 minutes
• Ingredients:
  • 500g of arborio rice
  • 1 medium onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 500g of sliced mushrooms
  • 20 spears of baby asparagus
  • half a bunch of celery
  • 1 large chicken breast (thinly sliced)
  • 400ml of white wine
  • 6 cups of chicken stock
  • 50g of pine nuts (toasted)
  • 80g parmesan cheese (grated)
  • parsley for garnish
  • sliced kalamata olives for garnish
  • 4 tablesppons of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot, on medium heat.
  2. Add chopped garlic.
  3. Chop celery and onion, fine.
  4. Add to oil and cook for 10 minutes until becomes translucent.
  5. Raise heat, add rice and cook for 2 minutes until rice becomes translucent.
  6. Add the wine and stir until fully absorbed, then lower heat to medium.
  7. Add 5 cups of the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, until each is absorbed, stir frequently.
  8. In a seperate pan, cook mushrooms and asparagus; then set aside.
  9. In a seperate pan, cook the chicken; then set aside.
  10. Add chicken, pine nuts, asparagus, and mushroom to rice pot along with the 6th cup of stock.
  11. Stir frequently till liquid is absorbed.
  12. Add parmesan cheese to top, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
  13. Serve in poetry bowls and garnish wish parsley and olives.
• Notes:
  • The more parmesan, the more ooey, gooey it becomes.
  • Olives are optional, but they do add a nice richness.
  • For a Canadian twist, cook with minute-rissotto, adding a can of cream of mushroom soup, grated cheddar cheese (Cheez Whiz optional) and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Add Frank’s Red Hot to taste. Serve with Labbatt’s Blue.

Ist es Sauerkraut? Nein Monsieur, ist Choucroute!

by Pam, Sydney (Australia)

For the whole world, Sauerkraut is the symbol of German food, along with the bratwurst. Indeed Sauerkraut is very much believed to be the base for all types of central European food, from the Baltic to the Alps, with its origin mainly in German cuisine. For the whole world… except the French…
For the French, Sauerkraut, or rather Choucroute, in its finest, most accomplished form as a full meal comes from Alsace. Alright weither Alsace was French or German has been much debated throughout History, but these days it is French, and so is the Choucroute!

Again I’ll admit that my recipe for the beloved kraut may not be the authentic one found in a proper Alsacian restaurant with enough meat in it to inflict a stroke to anyone who is brave (or big) enough to finish the plate.
Indeed here I make a heavy usage of speck and smoked pork.
(Hence the darker colour of the kraut on the picture, in case you’re wondering)

• Servings: 4
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 20 minutes
  • Cooking: 1.5 hours
• Ingredients:
  • 500g of sauerkraut
  • 4 smoked pork chops
  • a slab of speck (approx 5cm x 20cm)
  • 4 thin sausages (eg. Frankfurter)
  • 8 medium potatos
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 100ml of Riesling wine
  • approx 10 juniper berries
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Rince the sauerkraut under cold water.
  2. Chop the onion and crush the garlic.
  3. Heat the oil in a large pot over low heat.
  4. Add the onion and garlic into the pot and stir gently until they become translucent.
  5. Slice the speck into 8 chunks.
  6. Add the speck into the pot and stir gently until it gets a nice brown colour.
  7. Add the sauerkraut in the pot.
  8. Add the juniper berries and pepper (possibly whole).
  9. Add the wine and some water until the food is all covered.
  10. Put the mix to low boiling temperature and leave it for 1 hour over low heat. The pot should be covered.
  11. In the meantime, cook the pork chops and sausages in boiling water and peel the potatos
  12. After an hour add the peeled potatos and pork chops on top of the sauerkraut.
  13. Add the water used boiling the chops and sausages into the sauerkraut up to sauerkraut level.
  14. In the meantime, cook the saussages in boiling water.
  15. Leave to cook for another 30 minutes.
  16. Serve together with a sausage.
• Notes:
  • This sauerkraut is not as bitter as the usual one.
  • Speck brings a very interesting smoky flavour to the kraut. I really like that but I don’t think I’ve experienced that in Alsacian cuisine. If anyone knows where it could be a tradition of, please feel free to comment.
  • Unfortunately, while speck brings in a lot of flavour, it also brings in a lot of fat… I don’t really mind a bit of fat, but if you dislike it you should cut it off the speck while slicing it.
  • Riesling makes a fantastic addition to the food. You can also use Sylvaner, or I think that any dry white wine could do.
  • If you feel like it you can add any other type of pork meat you like, bacon, knuckle, blood sausage, etc. One suggestion I have is to precook the meat in boiling water and later add it to the sauerkraut while it finishes its cooking to soak in the flavours. Sausages don’t need to be added to the kraut as it won’t absorb flavours as well.

My own Chicken Couscous

by Pam, Sydney (Australia)

As mentionned earlier, I went camping with friends a couple of weeks ago (see Soupe à l’oignon or the French onion soup story). Someone had brought couscous, a fabulous, easy to cook and all purpose, ingredient I unfortunately seldom eat except at Moroccoan theme meals. I have to admit my inner french side made me frown inside when I saw the couscous being mixed with quartered raw tomatos, diced avocado, lemon juice and so on (not even a Tabouli!). The salad happened to be very good so it was a bit like a revelation to me. After all, isn’t couscous yet another type of cereal (in this case wheat) based side to a meal? Just like rice, pasta or bread?

So I gave it a try: A chicken couscous, with a south-eastern French twist to it.

• Servings: 4 serves
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 30 minutes
• Ingredients:
  • 1 big carrot
  • 1 turnip (parsnip goes well too)
  • 1 big courgette (zucchini)
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 250 gram of chicken thigh, de-boned
  • 1 litre of water
  • 400 gram of couscous
  • thyme
  • rosemary
  • ground chilli
  • olive oil
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Dice the chicken and vegetables into pieces of approx 1.5cm x 1.5cm x 1.5cm.
  2. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat.
  3. Add the chicken in the pot with the thyme, rosemary and chilli (up to your taste) and stir gently until the chicken is coated with the spices and gets a nice golden brown colour.
  4. Add the vegetables and water. Bring to boil and cook for about 15 minutes, with a cover on top of the pot.
  5. While the chicken and vegetables are cooking, mix the couscous with some olive oil in a large bowl.
  6. Check that the vegetable are cooked (if not, let it boil a bit more). Then remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
  7. Use some of the stock obtained from cooking the chicken and vegetables (about 500ml) and pour it on the couscous.
  8. Mix the couscous gently with the stock and leave it to rest for 5 mins. By then the couscous should be soft.
  9. Stir the couscous for it to air a bit.
  10. Keep the couscous separate from the chicken and vegetable mix, until serving.
• Notes:
  • You can also use chicken breast for this recipe, but I find them a bit too dry.
  • This dish is fabulous if you’re on a diet. As you can see from the ingredients, it’s low in fat, low in GI, and also helps you achieve the 5 vegetables a day mark.

Basque Chicken

by Nancy, Paris (France)

Famous in South of France, this meal is one of my boyfriend’s favorite

• Servings: 6
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 20 minutes
  • Cooking: 1 hour
• Ingredients:
  • 1 Chicken, choped in 16 (or 2 chicken breast or fillet cut in 1 inch cubes, 2 Chicken wings, 2 chicken legs)
  • 4 green & red pepper, minced
  • 1 kilogram tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 2 onion chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 250 ml white wine
  • 1 bouquet garni or dried provence herb
  • olive oil
  • paprika
  • cayenne pepper
  • salt
  • pepper
• Steps:
  1. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat.
  2. Add the chopped onions, the minced garlic cloves and the minced green and red pepper into the pot and stir gently for about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the chopped and peeled Tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook at low for 20 minutes.
  4. In the meantime roll the chicken in the paprika and then have it stirred in a pan.
  5. Add the Chicken, white wine, the bouquet garni and little cayenne pepper into the vegetable pot. Cover again and cook for 30 minutes at low heat.
• Notes:
  • This meal can be served either with rice or pasta.