Hon, please take me to Paris!: September 2012

Nothing better....

Chop, chop & then slice!

Call me when this is done.

Oh my- nap time for me.

"In the Basque style"- I like the way that sounds.....

Well, the jury is still out on this one- um, it was ok, pretty good; very good? and my DH seemed to heartily enjoy it for supper. You see, I sometimes use this summary ratio of time spent in preparation compared to the 1-10 scale for the finished dish. I must have chopped for a solid hour (understand though that I do consider chopping and slicing foods as rather relaxing & always a certifiable practice of knife skills). And the finished rainbow array of veggies on the cutting board was most rewarding.

I had purchased a nice organic chicken that my husband cut up (no,no; I do not cut up chickens!) for me, and then it soaked in a mild salt/sugar brine for several hours. This has become a required step to our chicken recipes now, whether we are grilling out or however.

The pepper/onion/spices went together well & smelled wonderful. After simmering a while, I also just let it sit & absorb amongst itself while the chicken soaked. Then I proceeded with Dorie’s simple instructions for the rest of the recipe. I did modify on my wine; all I had available was a sorta disliked bottle of white zin that I had picked up God knows where- too sweet, yecch. So I added a little balsamic vinegar & chicken glace stock along with a smaller portion of the wine- the sauce was tasty.

The only other small hurdle was my “raised in the South” dispensation to fry that chicken up with a beautiful crunchy brown crust when it went into the frying pan. But I held off and did as directed.....ho hum.

My sweet husband prepared a perfect pot of rice; another thing I gave up on- it always ended up a sticky, gummy, stuck to the pan kinda thing.

I suppose I give it a 7, maybe a 7+? Was it worth all the time & prep work?? What do the rest of the Dorista ladies and gentlemen think?
Please link to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/?p=1225 and read more delicious renditions of this recipe.

Have to admit when I first read over this recipe; I had visions of that awful fruit mixture that used to get passed around & you would stir & add more fruit....I can’t say, perhaps it was only prepared here in Texas, but, yuk!

Anyway, decided to give it a whirl- any recipe with vanilla beans & star anise has to be worth it. I went with one apple & some nectarines and pluots that needed a mission.

The sauce was quite tasty and it made a pretty little dessert for our dinner. My only question was that the sauce needed much longer to reduce & it did not seem thick enough. Guess I could have doctored it up, but the taste was yummy! To see how our other marvelous cooks fared please link to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/?p=1201.