Poulet Vallée D'Auge - SERVES 4
This is one the classic dishes of Normandy & Brittany, the apple-growing regions of France. Sometimes referred to as Poulet au Cidre, meaning the chicken has been cooked in cider instead of stock.
Ingredients
1 x 1.6kg chicken
2 x dessert apples
1 x tablespoon lemon juice
60g butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped
10g plain flour
80ml Calvados or Brandy
375ml chicken stock
100ml crème fraîche
JOINT the chicken into eight pieces by removing both legs and cutting between the joint of the drumstick and the thigh. Cut down either side of the backbone and lift it out. Turn the chicken over and cut through the cartilage down the centre of the breastbone. Cut each breast in half, leaving the wing attached to the top half.
PEEL and core the apples. Finely chop half on one apple and cut the rest into 12 wedges. Toss the apple in the lemon juice.
HEAT half the butter in a large frying pan, then add the chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook until golden. Turn over and cook for another 5 minutes. Lift the chicken out of the pan and tip away the fat.
HEAT 20g more butter in the same pan, add the onion, celery and chopped apple and fry over moderate heat for 5 minutes without browning.
REMOVE from the heat. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir in. Add the Calvados or Brandy and return to the heat. Gradually stir in the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
MEANWHILE, heat the remaining butter in a small frying pan. Add the apple wedges and fry over moderate heat until browned and tender. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
REMOVE the chicken from the pan and keep warm. Skim the excess fat from the cooking liquid. Add the crème fraîche, bring to the boil and boil for 4 minutes, or until the sauce is thick enought to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Season and pour over the chicken. Serve with the apple wedges.
(Source: The Food of France - Maria Villegas & Sarah Randell)
Tarte au Citron - SERVES 8
Requires 1 quantity sweet pastry (see below).
FILLING
4 x eggs
2 x egg yolks
275g caster sugar
190ml double cream
275ml fresh lemon juice
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
PREHEAT the oven to 190◦C (375◦ F). Roll out the pastry to line a 23cm round loose-based fluted tart tin. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
TO MAKE the filling, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and sugar. Add the cream, whisking all the time, and then the lemon juice and zest.
LINE the pastry shell with a crumpled piece of greaseproof paper and baking beads (use dried beans or rice if you don’t have beads). Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove the paper and beads and bake for a further 3-5minutes, or until the pastry is just cooked but still very pale. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 150◦C (300◦ F).
PUT the tin on a baking tray and carefully pour the filling into the pastry case. Return to the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the filling has set. Leave to cool completely before service.
DUST with icing sugar when cooled (if desired).
GARNISH with strawberry, mint leaf and more double cream (is desired).
SWEET PASTRY
MAKES 700g
350g plain flour
small pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar
2 eggs, beaten
SIFT the flour and salt onto a work surface and make a well in the centre. Put the butter into the well and work, using a pecking action with your fingertips and thumb, until it is very soft. Add the sugar to the butter and mix together. Add the eggs to the butter and mix together.
GRADUALLY incorporate the flour, flicking it onto the mixture and then chopping through it until you have a rough dough. Bring together with your hands and then knead a few times to make a smooth dough. Roll into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
ROLL OUT the pastry into a circle on a lightly floured surface and use to line a tart tin, as directed in the recipe. Trim the edge and pinch up the pastry edge to make an even border raised slightly above the rim of the run. Slide onto a baking tray and rest in the fridge for 10 minutes.
(Source: The Food of France - Maria Villegas & Sarah Randell)
