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 Lemon Mousse - Citronfromage

Danish Lemon Mousse - Citronfromage

Lemon mousse was my moms favorite dessert. We had it as dessert all trough the 70’s every time we had people over. I guess this was very normal in the 70's because nobody thought that cream could be bad for you, not to mention the risk of eating raw eggs. Salmonella wasn't a big risk at the time. 

My mom served lemon mousse in a dark green glass bowl, actually it's the exact same bowl, that I used here. I have never seen this bowl used for anything else, and for sure I'm not going to change that.

Somehow this dessert went on the back burner after the 70's. But when you serve it, people will love it. When I serve it for my danish friends and family they always start reminiscing, lemon mousse brings back good memories.

Disclaimer: This dessert is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This would minimize the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized in some supermarkets here in California, on safeeggs.com you can see where to find them in your neighborhood. In Denmark you'll find it right next to regular eggs. For tips and information on how to handle eggs, check out FDA’s website. The Danish version of FDA,  Fødevarestyrelsen also has advisory on egg

 Serves 4-6 (in my family it's closer to 4 than 6)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons gelatin (4 sheets husblas)
• 3 whole eggs (read disclaimer)
• 100 g sugar
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (50-60 ml)
• 1 lemon, the zest of
• 1 cup (250 ml) heavy whipping cream + extra for decorating

Directions:

Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs pale and fluffy with the sugar, set aside.

Mix the gelatin with half the lemon juice and melt the gelatin over a double boiler. Mix in the rest of the lemon juice and lemon zest.  

Using Husblas: put the sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. Over a double boiler melt the sheets with the water that adheres to it when removed from the bowl. Mix in the lemon juice and zest when melted completely.

Mix the gelatin lemon mixture with the eggs while whisking. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Pour the mousse into the serving dishes, and set it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Before serving, whip some extra whipping cream and decorate the mousse. Serve the cold mousse with whipping cream and shaved dark chocolate.

Enjoy.

Cherry sauce - kirsebærsauce

Cherry sauce - kirsebærsauce

This cherry sauce can be used on ice or puddings, but I always make this for my christmas dessert, risalamande. 

Growing up my parents had a cherry tree in their yard. Every year, my mom would preserve cherries to use for Christmas. The best part of my moms preserved cherries was the small nuts from inside the cherry-stone. After being preserved, the tasted like almonds, so yummy.

When I turned 9, my parents decided to move, and in their new yard, there were no cherry tree. And this was the end of homemade preserved cherries in my family. Now we had to eat store bought cherry sauce, like most other danes. 

Moving to the US, gave me a challenge with the cherry sauce, but one of my Danish friends, who moved to the US 4-5 years earlier than me, had the answer. You make your own cherry sauce from caned cherries. 

This is Mrs. Olsen's recipe for cherry sauce - well I might have tweaked it a bit, but the credits goes to Mrs Olsen. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can pitted cherries in heavy syrup
• 1 cup (250 ml) concentrated cherry juice
• 2-3 tablespoons sugar
• ½ lemon, the juice from
• cornstarch
• water

Directions:

Heat the cherries, cherry juice and sugar in a saucepan, bring it to a boil. Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Thicken the sauce with the cornstarch. Add lemon juice and sugar to taste. A spash of cherry liqueur only makes the sauce better.

Serve this sauce with ice cream, puddings or on risalamande.

Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding

Risalamande - Danish Rice Pudding

December 22. - I think, I need to plan the hunt for the almond carefully this year. I really want the marzipan pigs from Summerbird.

Risalamande means rice with almonds, and even though the name sounds french, it is a danish dessert, dating back about hundred years.

This is the dessert 90% of danes have at christmas dinner on christmas eve. Normally the cook will put one whole blanched almond in the the bowl with Risalamande, which  is served family style. The person who gets the whole almond gets a special gift. In many families the gift is a pig made from marzipan, or at least some kind of sweet or candy. As if you need more sweets and candy at christmas time.

Before risalamande was invented the norm was to start the christmas dinner of with a bowl of rice porridge. Maybe to fill you up with an inexpensive dish, so you wouldn't have to eat so much of the more pricy goose or duck roast. The Danish royal family still to this day start their christmas dinner with rice porridge. 

Risalamande is served with a hot or cold cherry sauce.

This is how my mom made risalamande.

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:

• Rice porridge made from 1 l milk, cold

• ¼ liter heavy whipping cream (use organic, without any other ingredients other than cream/milk)

• 1-2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 vanilla pod, the seeds from.

• A large handful chopped blanched almonds

Directions:

Whip the cream in a large bowl, until stiff peaks are just about to form. If you over-beat the cream, it will leave you with butter. (been there, done that).

Spilt the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife. Using the knife, mix the seeds with some sugar. This helps the seeds to distribute in the risalamande. You want an even distribution of seeds in the risalamande, like small black freckles.

In another bowl mix the rice porridge, sugar and vanilla. Use s couple of dollops of the whipped cream to soften the porridge. Fold in the whipped cream and the chopped almonds a little at a time. Taste the risalamande, so you won't put in to much. You want a fluffy light dessert, but not a bowl full of whipping cream.

Serve the risalamande cold from the refrigerator with hot or cold cherry sauce.

Enjoy.

Slow-roasted Duck

Slow-roasted Duck

December 18. - I have to take a break from all the sweets. Who would like a piece of a roasted duck?

Duck is traditionally served at the christmas dinner in Denmark. Actually 75% of danes eat duck at christmas. Back in the days people ate goose, and it was roasted in the large ovens in the bakeries, because peoples own oven was too small. Slowly people gravitated towards the duck, because of its size and prize. Farmers wanted to get the good money from the geese they raised, and would eat the cheaper duck themselves.

A Danish-style roasted duck is filled with prunes and apple slices, to keep the duck breast moist. I like to add some slices of oranges and some christmasy spices for extra flavor.

The duck in the picture was a very young bird, maybe only about 5-7 weeks old. So it's a very small bird, with not to much meat on its bones. These ducks are OK if you are making Peking Duck, but is not the best for a danish-style duck. Normally I like an older bird, around 10-12 weeks old. These birds have much more meat. The small bird cost me about $22, and would serve 3 people, while the older one cost $36 and can serve about 6 people. I buy my ducks from Grimaudfarms.com in Stockton, California. I’ve have been very pleased with the birds I have gotten from that place.

This is my take on the danish-style roasted duck.

Ingredients:

• 1 duck (7-8 pounds)
• 2 oranges
• 2 apples
• 2 handful of pitted prunes
• A handful salt and some pepper
• 1 star anise
• 3 whole allspice
• 5 whole cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 265℉ (130℃).

Chop the oranges and apples in the size of the prunes. Mix star anise, allspice, cloves and the broken cinnamon stick with apples, oranges and prunes. Have the salt in a clean cup.

Take neck and giblets out of the duck. Make sure that all feather sacks are out of the duck, you don't want a hard part of the feather in the crispy skin.

Pad the duck dry with some kitchen towel. Salt the duck inside, and fill it with the fruit mixture. Close the opening with a  trussing needle. 

Truss the duck by placing the duck on a tray with the legs towards you. Tuck the wing tips under the duck. Cut a piece of cooking twine about 3 feet (1 meter), and center it on top of the neck end of the breast. Lift the neck end of the duck and pull the twine down around the wings and under the duck, then bring the ends up over the breast, towards you, and knot the twine, pulling it tight to plump the breast. Bring the ends of the twine around the ends of the drumsticks and straight up. Tie as before to pull the drumsticks together and form a compact bird; tie again to secure knot."

Well, I did it my way, and tried my best to get the compact duck. Sometimes I just pull the wing onto the back of the duck, and use a cooking rubber band to tie the legs together.

Salt the duck with a lot of salt. 

Put the duck in the oven, breast side down, and cook it like this for 3-3½ hours. Have a pan under the duck, and put the giblets, neck and water in it. This water/drippings will be the base for the sauce. 

After 3½ hours turn the duck breast side up, and roast it for another 1½-2 hours until the temperature in the duck reaches 158℉ (70℃). If the skin isn't crispy, give the bird a few minutes under the boiler, be careful not to burn the duck.

Take the duck out and let it rest. Pour the drippings from the pan through a strainer into a saucepan. Skim the fat from the surface. I use a fat separator, which makes this process a breeze. Save the fat in the refrigerator or the freezer. Duck fat is a flavorful fat, and is perfect to roast potatoes in.

Add some cream, blue cheese and red currant jelly to the drippings and thicken the sauce, just like for the Danish pork roast.

Remove the twine and carve the duck, and serve with pickled red cabbage and Danish caramelized potatoes.