Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

January 20, 2014Dinner, Poultry, Simmer Food, food, recipeTove Balle-PedersenComment

I really love the regular coq au vin. The first dinner i ever made for my husband when I first met him, was coq au vin. Little did I know, that he didn't like wine. Well I didn't scare him off completely and now I learned him to drink wine. I must be a bad influence...

Normally I'll make coq au vin with red wine, but at a cooking class at Sur La Table we learned to make it with white wine, and it was so delicious, the perfect simmer food.

Ingredients:

200 g thick-cut bacon, cut into cubes
canola oil, as needed
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 good sized chicken for roasting (4 to 5 pound), cut into 8 serving pieces
1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large celery ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 leek, trimmed, white and light green parts only, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoon tomato paste
1 head garlic, halved
⅓ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
1 bottle full-bodied dry white wine, such as white Burgundy.*
2 teaspoons chicken paste
500 ml water
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Gremolata:

handfull Italian parsley
2-3 lemons, the zest of
3 garlic cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the bottom third.

Place bacon in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy and fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving some of the fat in the Dutch oven.

Season the chicken pieces generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the Dutch oven and sear to a deep brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes, working in batches as needed. Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet.

Add onion, carrot, celery, and leek to Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste turns a deeper red, another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetable mixture and cook, stirring to incorporate, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine to Dutch oven and, using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits. Cook until wine mixture begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Return chicken to Dutch oven along with any juices from the baking sheet and add chicken base and enough water to barely cover the chicken. Add thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns, stirring to combine. Cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven. Braise the chicken until fork-tender, about 50 to 60 minutes.

Remove Dutch oven from oven and, using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

Discard the thyme sprigs and the bay leave. Place dutch oven over high heat and cook braising liquid until reduced and thickened, about 10 to 12 minutes, skimming the surface for excess fat. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve family style with gremolata, mashed potatoes or vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Gremolata:

Rinse the parsley, zest the lemons and peel the garlic cloves. Finely chop the ingredients together. I use the mini chopper that came with my Immersion Blender.

* Don't use a oaked wine, since oakey wine can turn bitter when reduced.

Danish Lemon Mousse - Citronfromage

January 15, 2014Desserts, food, recipeTove Balle-Pedersen8 Comments

Lemon mousse was my moms favorite dessert. We had it as dessert all trough the 70’s every time we had people over. I guess this was very normal in the 70's because nobody thought that cream could be bad for you, not to mention the risk of eating raw eggs. Salmonella wasn't a big risk at the time.

My mom served lemon mousse in a dark green glass bowl, actually it's the exact same bowl, that I used here. I have never seen this bowl used for anything else, and for sure I'm not going to change that.

Somehow this dessert went on the back burner after the 70's. But when you serve it, people will love it. When I serve it for my danish friends and family they always start reminiscing, lemon mousse brings back good memories.

Disclaimer: This dessert is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This would minimize the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized in some supermarkets here in California, on safeeggs.com you can see where to find them in your neighborhood. In Denmark you'll find it right next to regular eggs. For tips and information on how to handle eggs, check out FDA’s website. The Danish version of FDA, Fødevarestyrelsen also has advisory on egg

Serves 4-6 (in my family it's closer to 4 than 6)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons gelatin (4 sheets husblas)
3 whole eggs (read disclaimer)
100 g sugar
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (50-60 ml)
1 lemon, the zest of
1 cup (250 ml) heavy whipping cream + extra for decorating

Directions:

Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs pale and fluffy with the sugar, set aside.

Mix the gelatin with half the lemon juice and melt the gelatin over a double boiler. Mix in the rest of the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Using Husblas: put the sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. Over a double boiler melt the sheets with the water that adheres to it when removed from the bowl. Mix in the lemon juice and zest when melted completely.

Mix the gelatin lemon mixture with the eggs while whisking. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Pour the mousse into the serving dishes, and set it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Before serving, whip some extra whipping cream and decorate the mousse. Serve the cold mousse with whipping cream and shaved dark chocolate.

Enjoy.

Kale Salad

January 14, 2014Salad, Sides, Vegetables, food, recipeTove Balle-PedersenComment

Kale has never been one of my favorites until I tried this salad. Kale is filled with vitamins A, C and K and calcium, so it's one of the healthiest things you can eat. Curly kale is fibrous and grassy tasting and it goes well with a creamy and lemony dressing, like the one I use here. The kales call for more dressing than a regular salad like iceberg or butter salad.

The dressing I use is a old-fasioned creamy dressing called mormordressing (grandmothers dressing) made with whipping cream, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. My mom made another version of this dressing substituting the whipping cream with a fermented milk product called ymer, kinda like the Icelandic skyr, you can get in most supermarkets.

I love this Kale salad with different curries or with a nice pork chop.