The Art Of French Cooking- Week 2 -Fondue de Poulet à la Crème

I need to tell you the revisions I made to this recipe:

• Instead of the cut-up whole chicken, I used 3 lbs. of chicken breast.
• I only used 1 1/2 TBSP. butter (my pan is non-stick).
• I used a pint (16 oz.) of whipping cream and 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2, instead of 3 cups whipping cream.
• I didn't have white pepper, so I used black pepper.
• I use all-natural and organic ingredients.
• (Don't ask me why the recipe didn't turn out!) *wink.

Fondue de Poulet à la Crème

[Chicken Simmered with Cream and Onions]

In this rich and delectable dish, the chicken is cooked in butter and onions, 

then simmered with wine and heavy cream. 

For 4-6 people

You'll need a large saute' pan, and a smaller sauce pan for this recipe.

• 2 1/2 - 3 lbs. of cut-up frying chicken
• 3 TBSP. butter
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 1/3 cup cognac, Calvados, Madeira, or port; or 3/4 c. dry white wine, or 1/2 c. dry white vermouth
• 3 cups whipping cream
• Drops of lemon juice
• 3 - 4 TBSP. whipping cream
• Sprigs of fresh parsley

Put butter into saute' pan on medium.

Dry chicken thoroughly. Turn it in hot butter for 4-5 min., until meat has stiffened slightly, but not browned.

Remove it to a side dish.

Stir the onions into the butter in the pan.

Cover and cook very slowly (med-low), until onions are tender, not browned.

Return chicken to pan, cover and cook slowly for 10 min. until meat swells lightly, and stiffens, but does not brown. Turn it once during this period.

Pour whipping cream into the small saucepan, bring to a boil.
Season the chicken with seasonings, pour in the wine (I used vermouth), raise heat, and boil rapidly until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated.

Pour the hot cream over chicken, simmer, baste the chicken and cover.
Maintain at the barest simmer for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
The cream may look slightly curdled, but will be smoothed out later.

Remove chicken to a hot platter, cover, and keep warm for 5 minutes while finishing the sauce.

Skim fat off the sauce (with chicken breasts, there was no extra fat), then boil it rapidly, stirring, until it reduces enough to coat the spoon lightly. Add lemon juice to taste. Off heat, beat in additional cream by spoonfuls to smooth out the sauce.

Pour the sauce over the chicken, decorate with parsley, and serve.

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Review:

It did take about an hour from start to finish to prepare this.

But, I made a cucumber salad and pilaf while waiting for it, 

so it wasn't so bad.

Again, this was another dish that smelled heavenly while cooking!

The onions, vermouth, and curry together were unlike any scents 

that we had ever smelled together.

Delightfully different!

And yum.

I think I could eat the white sauce just by itself.

I could eat it on toast, I could eat it on roast.

I could eat it on greens, I could eat it on beans.

I could eat it on peas, I could eat it on cheese.

I could eat it on broccoli...(uh, nothing rhymes with broccoli).

It may have something to do with the fact that it was made mostly of cream!

Good thing we only cook like this once a week.

When the dish was done cooking, 

we couldn't taste the vermouth at all.

We give this:

* * * * *


Till next Saturday,
Bon Appetit!