BASQUE CHICKEN AND CHORIZO

 

The very best part of autumn is filling your kitchen with the rich, welcoming  aromas of one-pot dishes and casseroles.  These are dishes that are the heart and soul of your kitchen.

 

 

This is my adaptation of a Daniel Boulud recipe.  It uses the brilliant red pepper  so  prolific in the markets.  Chicken legs, slowly simmered until the meat falls from the bone delivers great flavour.

 

BASQUE CHICKEN AND CHORIZO SAUTE   …  serves 4-6 people

4 oz dry chorizo, sliced 1/4 inch thick

2 tb extra-virgin olive oil

6 whole chicken legs, split  (around 3 1/2 lbs)

2 medium red bell peppers, cut into 1/2 thick strips

2 medium red onions, thinly sliced

6 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 large thyme sprigs

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or 1 cup drained San Marzano whole tomatoes

3/4 cup dry sherry

2 tsp sweet paprika

3/4 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tbs shredded basil

Crusty French bread, for serving

Saute the chorizo in a deep skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until lightly browned and some of the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon transfer the chorizo to a large plate.

Heat the olive oil in the skillet.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until well browned, 15 minutes.  Add the chicken to the chorizo.

Add the bell peppers, red onions, garlic, crushed red pepper and thyme to the skillet and cook over moderate heat until barely softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, sherry, paprika and cook  until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

Put the chicken and the chorizo into a large baking dish and cover with the sauce.  Cover and bake in a 350 oven for around 3/4 of an hour.   Remove the cover and bake for 5 or 10 minutes more so the sauce thickens.  Stir the basil into the sauce and serve with crusty bread.

Bon Appétit

SPINACH PIE RECEIVES GREAT PRESS!

My recipe for Spinach pie is so good (and so green) it would have made a perfect St. Patrick’s day dinner.   But no worries, my friends.  Make it tomorrow, or the next day, but don’t delay.   This recipe (from  Bel’Occhio’s Cooking Classes) is simply wonderful.   My gardening guru friend Dellis makes it at least once a week, and is never without spinach in her kitchen.  This is a generous recipe and with big salad would be perfect to share with friends.  You can make it ahead of time and serve it at room temperature.   This recipe is a reputation maker!

Today a reader of Bel’Occhio commented on the recipe.   Please go to his blog.  It is a delight. http://rufusguide.wordpress.com/.  I think his recipe for limoncello would be wonderful when the sun warms the earth and our hearts, and our mind says “cool drinks”.

BOEUF BOURGINGNON … beef bourgingnon

I review I KNOW HOW TO COOK

I KNOW HOW TO COOK by Ginette Mathiot’s has been the best-selling cookbook in France for three generations.  Now it is available in English.  The book first published in l932 has been regularly revised and updated.   This book has been an essential fixture on the counters of French kitchens for over 75 years.  You could call it the definitive cookbook for French home cooking.

You’ll find the all the French basics, but what I liked was the unusual;  recipes for Barley Sugar,  Ash Leaf beer, Cuissot de Sanglier (hindquarter of wild boar)   and Becasse Rotie Sauce Crème (Roast woodcock in cream sauce).  It makes terrific bedside reading.

The recipes are brief and concise.  But here’s the codicil.    You have to know how to cook.  Some of the cake recipes don’t give exact pan sizes.     The author requires one to have enough general knowledge to navigate the recipes.

 

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON (Beef Bourguignon)

Preparation time: 20 minutes.  Cooking time: 2 ½ hours.   Serves 6

1 tablespoon oil,   3 oz. pearl onions or shallots.   3 ½ ounces small bacon cubes,   1 pound 8 ½ oz. stewing beef, cut into pieces,   Scant  ¼ cup flour.   1 ¼ cups any stock, hot.   1 ¼ cups red wine.   1 bouquet garni.   Salt and pepper.   3 ½ oz. mushrooms, peeled and chopped.

In a heavy pan over medium heat, heat the oil and pan-fry the onions and bacon cubes until browned.  Remove them, add the meat and brown it on all sides.  Sprinkle with the flour, stir until browned, then add the hot stock.  Add the bacon cubes, onions, wine and bouquet garni, and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer gently on low heat for 2 hours, then add the mushrooms and cook for 30 minutes more.  Bon Appetit

Chef’s Note:  The recipe is according to the book.   I suggest when you add the hot stock you scrap up the brown bits in the pan.  Before I added the mushrooms I sautéed them in a little olive oil and butter.  Delicious