French

Lemon Rosemary Madeleines

In honor of Bastille Day…or possibly just an excuse to use the madeleine pan that has been sitting in my cupboard for a few years now? Regardless, these French lemon madeleines are light and lovely.

This was one of those times in the kitchen where you begin to wonder, “Is this just not in the stars for me?”  First the butter exploded in the microwave, with great flair, I should add.  Loud popping clumps of butter going everywhere.  Then I was separating eggs and almost added the whites instead of the yolks to the bowl.  Then I spilled cake flour all over myself and the floor, something I really hate cleaning up for some reason.  Really?  It was just one thing after another.  A lesson in patience and being slow to anger?  Maybe so.

Madeleines are beautiful little treasures, but impossible to make without a madeleine pan.  I only have one small madeleine pan and I didn’t feel like waiting for it to cool, washing it out and re-greasing it before making another batch, so I used my remaining batter to make little lemon rosemary muffins.  Simply grease 24 mini muffin cups, fill them 3/4 full and bake for about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the tops are just beginning to brown.  Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!  They don’t have the same cute little ruffled shell shape, but they are just as good.

Fresh and light lemon flavor with just a subtle rosemary flavor, these little cake-like cookies are wonderful.  I think they’d be perfect for a tea party, baby or bridal shower.

Lemon Rosemary Madeleines

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 3 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • powdered sugar
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two madeleine pans; set aside. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl; Mix in chopped rosemary and set aside.
  2. Put eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and juice in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and thickened, about 5 minutes. Mix in butter. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Let rest 30 minutes.
  3. Pour batter into buttered pans, filling the molds 3/4 full. Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are crisp and golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies cool slightly in pans on wire racks. Invert, and unmold. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

 

Chicken and Mushroom Crepes

Leftovers are tricky.  Some things are great left over.  Pizza is even good cold straight from the fridge for breakfast.  Lasagna, spaghetti, and most casseroles take to reheating very well.  Unfortunately, a lot of foods are not good on their own left over.  However, with some creativity, leftovers can be transformed into something deliciously new and sometimes even better than the original.

I made tarragon chicken fricassée the other night and it was great.  Since it made 4 pretty big servings of chicken, I was left with two chicken breasts and some sauce.  What to do with these leftovers?  I was not about to toss them in the trash.  I thought about chopping them up and making chicken salad or combining them with the leftover egg noodles and some sauteed mushrooms and making a baked pasta.  I have no idea what made me think of crepes.  Some supreme culinary power must have influenced me, because it was a wonderful idea.  Chicken and mushroom crepes!

I know what you’re thinking.  Crepes are meant to be eaten for breakfast.  OR with sugar sprinkled in them, wrapped in paper, handed to you by a cute little Frenchman from a food cart and munched on while walking the streets of Paris at 10 pm.  Or is that just me?  I had the luxury of doing that exact thing on a French club trip in high school.  I must go back there.

Crepes are not meant to be confined to the categories of breakfast and sweets.  They can be a perfect thing upon which to serve savory items as well!  There is an adorable little trailer restaurant called Flip Happy Crepes in Austin where my sister and I ate for her birthday a few years ago.  We ate lunch there and didn’t even try the sweet crepes.  This was my first introduction to the savory crepe, and it was spectacular.

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Tarragon Chicken Fricassée

My attempts in writing the title to this post resulted in many misspellings of the word “fricassée”.  I will not tell you the number of times I tried and failed to spell it…and do not ask Ben, because he will probably tell you and I will be embarrassed.

Despite the difficulty involved in spelling this French word, this tarragon chicken fricassée was quite easy to prepare and very delicious.

Fricassée is, by definition, meat, usually chicken or veal, browned lightly, stewed, and served in a sauce made with its own stock.  The origin of the word itself is French, but there are many regional variations of a fricassée.  Greek and Cuban fricassée are a few that I saw while searching for recipes.

The meal I made was, if I had to ascribe it to a region, French.  I love the flavor of the fresh tarragon.  It gives this dish an incredibly fresh flavor and perfectly slight sweetness.  Tarragon is a classic herb used in French cooking, and is considered to be one of the four fine herbs of Mediterranean cooking.  The other three are parsley, chives and chervil.

Some fricassée recipes use a variety of vegetables along with the chicken.  Quite a few recipes included mushrooms and onions.  A few had vegetables like peas, beans or peppers.  One recipe I saw had apples.  This recipe is simple in that the only vegetables to be found are shallots and tarragon.  Is garlic a vegetable?  Is tarragon a vegetable?  Anyway.  This is a simple chicken fricassée which allows for the flavors of the tarragon, chicken, white wine and cream to really shine and not be covered or overshadowed by a bunch of other stuff.

Everything in the recipe below is just as it was originally, except I used 4 chicken breasts and added more tarragon.  You can find the original recipe here.  I served this with green beans with toasted walnuts and egg noodles.  I will definitely be making this again.  I used the leftovers in a really special meal the following evening…more on that later.

Tarragon Chicken Fricassée

From Epicurious.com

Ingredients
  • 4 bone-in chicken breasts (skin on or off)
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ cup finely chopped shallots
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½  cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
  • ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
  1. Pat chicken dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté chicken in 2 batches, skin side down first, turning over once, until browned, 10 to 12 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet, then cook shallots, garlic, and bay leaf over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, about 2 minutes. Add wine and bring to a boil. Stir in cream, broth, and 1 tablespoon tarragon, then add chicken, skin side up, and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered. If necessary, boil sauce until thickened slightly.
  4. Stir in lemon juice, remaining 1/2 tablespoon tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Discard bay leaf; pour sauce over chicken.