Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

I really love the regular coq au vin. The first dinner i ever made for my husband  when I first met him, was coq au vin. Little did I know, that he didn't like wine. Well I didn't scare him off completely and now I learned him to drink wine. I must be a bad influence...

Normally I'll make coq au vin with red wine, but at a cooking class at Sur La Table we learned to make it with white wine, and it was so delicious, the perfect simmer food.

Ingredients:

• 200 g thick-cut bacon, cut into cubes
• canola oil, as needed
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 good sized chicken for roasting (4 to 5 pound), cut into 8 serving pieces 
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large celery ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 leek, trimmed, white and light green parts only, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 head garlic, halved 
• ⅓ cup  (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle full-bodied dry white wine, such as white Burgundy.*
• 2 teaspoons chicken paste
• 500 ml water
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme 
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Gremolata:

• handfull Italian parsley
• 2-3 lemons, the zest of
• 3 garlic cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the bottom third. 

Place bacon in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy and fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving some of the fat in the Dutch oven. 

Season the chicken pieces generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the Dutch oven and sear to a deep brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes, working in batches as needed. Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. 

Add onion, carrot, celery, and leek to Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste turns a deeper red, another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetable mixture and cook, stirring to incorporate, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine to Dutch oven and, using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits. Cook until wine mixture begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Return chicken to Dutch oven along with any juices from the baking sheet and add chicken base and enough water to barely cover the chicken. Add thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns, stirring to combine. Cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven. Braise the chicken until fork-tender, about 50 to 60 minutes. 

Remove Dutch oven from oven and, using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. 

Discard the thyme sprigs and the bay leave. Place dutch oven over high heat and cook braising liquid until reduced and thickened, about 10 to 12 minutes, skimming the surface for excess fat. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Serve family style with gremolata, mashed potatoes or vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Gremolata:

Rinse the parsley, zest the lemons and peel the garlic cloves. Finely chop the ingredients together. I use the mini chopper that came with my Immersion Blender. 

* Don't use a oaked wine, since oakey wine can turn bitter when reduced.

Danish Soup Dumplings - Melboller

Danish Soup Dumplings - Melboller

Danish soup dumplings, aka melboller, are a must have in soups in Denmark. They feel soft, light, and fluffy. They kinda melts in your mouth and has a subtle salty flavor.

Most people in Denmark buys soup dumplings from the freezer aisle in the supermarket. But my mom always made them herself. So for me the store bought dumplings tasted kinda funny. I learned to make these as a kid. I would stand on a chair next to the stove, and cut the dough from the dough press (bollesprøjte) and the small dumplings would fall into the hot water. It might have been easier for my mom, if I hadn't helped her, but I wanted to help.

Ingredients:

• 75 g salted butter
• 200 g water
• 105 g all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan, take the pan off the heat. Add all the flour at once, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.  The dough should become cohesive and shiny. Heat the dough a bit, if it's not shiny. Whisk the eggs  and add a bit at a time to the dough while mixing. Add more egg until the dough is soft but still paste like. Be careful not to make the dough too thin. Mix in the salt.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot, take the pot off the heat. Place dough in a traditional danish bollesprøjte (like a cookie press) and cut the dough with a knife into the hot water (WATER MUST NOT BOIL). If you do not have a bollesprøjte use a spoon.

Bring the hot water and the dumplings almost to a boil three times, adding a splash of cold water to cool the water a bit. After the third time and when the dumplings are firm, lift them out of the water and let them drain. Make sure not to put to many dumplings in the water at the same time. You only want one layer dumpling in the water at a time.

Serve with soups, like beef soup.

Enjoy!

Bollesprøjte

Boiled Meatballs - Kødboller

Boiled Meatballs - kødboller

Boiled meatballs are used in different dishes in Denmark, one of them is in bouillon type soups like beef soup. Traditionally meatballs are made from ground pork, but can easily be made from other types of ground meats.

The boiled meatballs are pretty much the same as normal danish fried meatballs, much like my Greek-style lamb meatballs. 

Makes 22 meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1  lb. (500 g) ground pork
• rolled oats
• 1 eggs
• 1 medium onions
• 1/4 cup milk
• ½ teaspoons salt 
• pepper

Directions:

Mix the meat with salt. Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats. Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture. 

Put a large pot of water over to boil. When the water boils add 1 teaspoon salt. 

To form the meatballs, dip a tablespoon in hot water and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval and the size of a small egg. Place the meatball in the water, repeat until you have one layer of meatballs. Boil the meatballs for about  7-10 minutes.

Use the meatballs in soups or in the classic meatballs in curry sauce (boller i karry). 

Meatball can be frozen.

Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

This is an old old side dish served with classic danish chicken soup or beef soup. I think this dish is known only in some parts of Denmark, it might be from Jutland, where my dad’s family are from. The dish is served cold, and is scooped into your hot soup. 

When I made this for my husband the first time, he was very skeptic. Why would anyone put sweet raisins in their soup? So as the good wife I am, I made two versions one with and one without raisins. Need I say that he happily ate my supperis with raisins?

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400 g water 
• 70 g rice (danish grødris or aborio)
• 45 g raisins
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil. Sprinkle the rice into the water, add the salt and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the raisins and let the porridge boil for another 10-15 minutes. 

Pour the porridge into a bowl, and cool it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the soup.

Enjoy!

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Having homemade beef soup reminds my of my childhood. My mom made the best beef or chicken soup. Making the soup takes time. It is a whole day project. 

There's a story in my family from before I was born, and my brother was about 3 years old.  My parents and my brother met my aunt when they went for a walk, and invited her to join them for the second day of having soup. My mom had to put more water in the soup, to make sure that there would be enough for the four of them.  Almost by the end of the meal, there's no more soup, and my brother declares: "if aunt hadn't come, there would have been enough food."  My poor mom laughed, but was embarrassed at the same time.

Serves 8.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds beef soup bones 
• 2 pounds beef brisket 
• 3 large carrots 
• 2 leeks 
• 1 celery root + the top of
• water to cover
• salt

Directions:

Put bones and brisket in a large pot with cold water and heat it to a boil. Skim off the foam.  Add 1 teaspoon salt and the green top from the celery root.

Clean the leeks, carrots and celery root, and cut into chunks, add them to the soup. Let the soup simmer for about 2-3 hours. Discard the soup bones and the celery top. Take out the brisket, and let it cool. You will serve this on the side with a good mustard later.

Clean and peel more celery root, carrots and leeks, and cut them into bite size bites and boil them in the soup for about 15-20 minutes before serving.

You can skim of the fat and clarify the soup if you want to. I only skim of the fat, if there is a thick layer, but I hadn't done this here.

Serve the soup with Danish soup dumplings/melboller, boiled meatballs/kødboller, supperis and the brisket with mustard.

The sides