France (Europe) 3 November 2023

Posted bydinasowerPosted inUncategorized

France is located in the continent of Europe. It has the United Kingdom to the north, the Netherland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland, Italy and Austria to the east, Corsica to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, Spain to the southwest, and the Atlantic Ocean and Ireland to the northwest.

The capital is Paris.

The official language is French.

The climate is greatly influenced by the oceanic effects of the North Atlantic Drift on the west and the Mediterranean Sea on the south. France has three major climatic zones – oceanic, continental, and Mediterranean.

The staple foods are grapes, fish, cheese, breads, wheat, corn, potato, salmon, tuna, and so many more delicious foods (https://prezi.com/nn2o1tdzcyjb/staple-food-in-france/).

https://www.britannica.com/place/France

COQ AU VIN (https://www.recipetineats.com/coq-au-vin/):    

Red Wine Chicken Marinade:

  • 4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on
  • 4 chicken drumsticks
  • 16 pearl onions, or pickling onions
  • 1 bay leaf, fresh (dry also ok)
  • 3 thyme sprigs (sub 1 tsp dried thyme)
  • 3 C pinot noir red wine, or other dry red wine
  1. Place the chicken marinade ingredients in a large glass or ceramic bowl or dish.
  2. Marinate overnight in the fridge (minimum 12 hours, maximum 24 hours).
  3. Strain wine into a bowl. Reserve herbs and wine
  4. Separate the chicken and onion.
  5. Spread the chicken out on a tray lined with paper towels, then pat dry with paper towels.
  6. Pour the red wine into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
  7. Simmer vigorously, skimming off any impurities that rise to the surface, until reduced by half.
  8. Set aside.

Browning Chicken:

  • 3 ~ 4 TBSP vegetable oil (or canola oil)
  • ¾ tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt, or ½ tsp table salt)
  • ½ tsp pepper

Coq au Vin Stew:

  • 14oz. white mushrooms, halved (quartered if large)
  • 5oz. bacon piece, (speck) cut into 1” batons
  • 4 TBSP unsalted butter
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely minced (with knife)
  • 2 TBSP tomato paste
  • 7 TBSP flour, plain / all purpose
  • 3 C beef stock, low sodium, preferably homemade
  • ¼ tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt, or 1/8 tsp table salt)
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Sprinkle the chicken with ¾ tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper.
  3. Heat 3 TBSP oil in a large, heavy-based, overproof pot over medium-high heat.
  4. Add chicken thighs skin side down and cook for 2~3 minutes until nicely browned (it will be darker than usual because of the red wine.
  5. Flip the thighs and cook the other side for another minute to kiss it with a little color.
  6. Remove to a tray.
  7. Pull at the skin of drumsticks to cover flesh as best as possible, then brown (I do 3 to 4 sides, ~5 minutes in total).
  8. Remove and set aside.
  9. REMOVE ANY LOOSE BURNT BITS OF BACON.
  10. Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook bacon for 3 minutes until golden.
  11. Add to tray with chicken.
  12. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until golden.
  13. Remove into a separate bowl.
  14. Add a bit of extra oil if needed, then cook onions for 5 minutes or until there are nice golden patches.
  15. Add butter into the pot.
  16. Once melted, add garlic, and cook for another 1 minute.
  17. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.
  18. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
  19. While stirring, slowly pour in beef stock = this helps the flour dissolve lump-free into the stock.
  20. Then add the reduced wine and mix until the flour mixture is dissolved and mostly lump-free.
  21. Add chicken, bacon, mushroom, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper into the pot, then stir.

SLOW-COOK:

  1. Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to the oven for 45 minutes.
  2. Chicken will be very tender – but not “falling apart”.
  3. Remove from the oven, taste the sauce, and add salt if needed.
  4. If time permits, leave the stew overnight before serving because as will all stews, it gets better with time!
  5. Reheat gently on a low stove in a covered pot, ensuring that chicken is fully heated through.
  6. Add water if needed to loosen sauce.
  7. Serve over mashed potato or tagliatelle, sprinkled with fresh parsley!
  8. For the ultimate experience, mop the plate clean with homemade brioche (surprisingly straight forward to make).

Garnish and serving:

  • 2 TBSP parsley, chopped
  • Mashed potato (or tagliatelle) 

Notes:

1. Chicken pieces – Bone in, skin on pieces are best for the most tender, juicy results. Cutting up your own whole chicken would also be ideal. Keep the chicken breast whole with the skin on and bone in. Marinade and sear per recipe but only put it in the pot for the last 20 minutes in the oven (else it will overcook and dry out).

2. Pearl onions are very small onions and are irritatingly hard to find in Australia. The closest are pickling onions which are slightly bigger, so just peel an extra layer or two off to make them the right size – around 2.5cm/1″ in diameter. Soak them for 10/15min in cold water, it will soften the skin and make them easier to peel (use a small knife to assist).

You can also just use 2 brown or yellow onions, halved then cut into 1cm / 2/5” wedges.

3. Pinot Noir is the traditional wine typically used in Coq au Vin, though you’ll different wine regions showcase their local wines in this dish (sometimes even champagne!).

Wine quality – Even though wine is the primary flavoring in this dish, there’s still no need to splurge on expensive wine. This is a myth of years gone by supported by reputable food authorities including the New York Times. (“the wonderful wines and the awful ones produced equally tasty food, especially if the wine was cooked for more than a few minutes.”) The braising time and other flavors works wonders to transform even value wine – just rummage through the discount bins at your local liquor store. The bottle I used was a $15 one reduced to $6 (Dan Murphy’s!).

Cooking out alcohol – While the alcohol cooks out of the sauce due to the long cooking time, I am unsure whether (or how much) might be captured in the flesh of the chicken which is marinated in the red wine. Readers should use their judgement when deciding whether to serve this to children.

4. Mushrooms – Swiss brown /cremini are also fine. White is more traditional and looks nicer because it stands out more against the dark brown sauce.

5. Bacon – Using a block means you can cut into chunky batons which look nicer in the finished dish. Using bacon slices is a substitute that works perfectly fine from a flavor perspective, but you end up with more pieces in the sauce, so it looks like there’s more “bits” in it (very clunky explanation attempt there!!).

Bacon is key for sauce seasoning, so don’t skip it!

6. Beef stock is used in this dish which gives it a rich dark brown color and deeper flavor. Doesn’t taste beefy because you get so much flavor from the chicken juices. The chicken stock will work fine but the sauce color won’t be as deep and flavor a little lighter.

Beef stock quality is the key variable here that will set apart a good homemade Coq au Vin from an exceptional restaurant-quality one. Homemade beef stock trumps any store bought. Good quality store-bought from butchers etc. are far better than mass-produced (like Campbell’s here in Australia).

Do not use powdered beef stock. It’s frankly inferior to even the packet liquid stock and has no place here amongst all this effort, I’m afraid!

7. Salt – This dish gets plenty of salt from the bacon, so you don’t need to add much.

8. Flour lumps – Don’t fret if you have some lumps! They will dissolve during the slow cooking time

9. Slow-cook method – Oven is best because it’s entirely hands off, no need to stir to ensure base doesn’t catch (it’s also kind of hard with big chicken pieces in pot). But it can also be done on a low stove, lid on, stirring every now and then.

Slow cooker: This can work but you’ll need to reduce on the stove at the end to thicken sauce. Slow-cook for 6 hours on low, transfer to pot then simmer (no lid) for 15 – 20 minutes until sauce reduces. I really think it’s just easier to use the oven!

10. How tender chicken should be – Takes 45 minutes to cook through fully and be tender but not “falling off the bone” which is an unusual preparation for chicken because the meat is naturally more tender than tough slow cooking cuts like chuck beef (used for Bourguignon), lamb shanks, beef ribs etc. 

11. Leaving stew overnight – As with any stew, but particularly dishes like Coq au Vin and Beef Bourguignon where the sauce is made with a good amount of wine, it gets better if you leave the finished stew overnight because the flavors develop more, and any residual wine flavor mellows out. Having said that, this is stellar freshly cooked as well!

Instead of placing the coq au vin over mashed potatoes, I used riced cauliflower. VERY tasty and the flavors were amazing!!

KETO BRIOCHE BREAD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=AhRg0YjFFts):      

  • ¾ C Unsweetened Almond Milk
  • 3 tsp instant or rapid release rise yeast
  • 3 C almond flour
  • 3 TBSP Psyllium Husk, finely ground
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 C alternate sweetener, to taste
  • 6 large egg whites
  • ¼ C softened butter
  1. Heat the milk to 122 to 132F, then stir the yeast in and set aside.
  2. Mix the flour, psyllium husk, baking powder, salt, and sweetener together.
  3. Then add the egg whites. Mix to combine.
  4. Add the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and mix to combine.
  5. Now add the softened butter and continue to mix to combine until a dough forms.
  6. Preheat the oven to 210F.
  7. Place a baking dish with boiling water directly below the tray you will have the dough proofing in.
  8. Use an 8×3.5×3” loaf pan lined with parchment paper. The pan must be narrow and tall to fit the dough nicely so it will rise upwards and not expand sideways.
  9. Once the dough is good, then divide the dough into 3 equal balls and place in the loaf pan.
  10. Sprinkle with almond flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel.
  11. Cover the loaf pan with the towel and place in the oven above the boiled water to proof for 1 hour.
  12. After 1 hour, the dough should have risen.
  13. Brush the dough with almond milk or egg yolk and then sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
  14. Take the water out of the oven and set the oven to 350F.
  15. No need to preheat, just put the dough in and bake for 1 hour.
  16. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!!!

I halved the recipe and it still turned out really good. Just be careful as you are adding in the yeast mixture. My dough became wet quickly, so go slow!

KETO FRENCH SILK PIE (https://www.lowcarbspark.com/keto-french-silk-pie-2/):  

For the crust:

  • 1-1/2 C almond flour
  • 3 TBSP cocoa powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 C sweetener
  • ¼ C butter, solid

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Grease a 9-inch Pyrex pie dish with butter or cooking spray.
  3. Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, baking powder, salt, and cold butter into a large mixing bowl.
  4. Whisk well to combine or use a food processor.
  5. Make sure the butter is well incorporated.
  6. Add one medium egg and process until the crust dough looks like crumbles.
  7. Using your hands spread out the dough into the prepared pie dish.
  8. Bake for 10~15 minutes, or until set.
  9. Let the pie crust completely cool.

For the filling:

  • 16oz cream cheese, room temperature
  • 4 TBSP sour cream
  • ¾ C heavy cream
  • 3oz. dark chocolate, melted
  • ½ C cocoa powder, unsweetened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ C sweetener
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract for whipped cream
  1. In a large bowl, add the cream cheese, sour cream, heavy whipping cream, melted chocolate, cocoa powder, sweetener, and vanilla extract.
  2. Using a hand mixer, blend for about 3~4 minutes or until the chocolate filling looks fluffy.
  3. Pour the chocolate filling into the baked crust and refrigerate for 6 hours.

For the topping:

  • ¾ C heavy cream
  • 2 TBSP powdered sweetener
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Chocolate shavings or cocoa powder to garnish
  1. In a large clean bowl, use an electric mixer to blend the whipping cream, powdered sweetener, and vanilla extract.
  2. Beat on high until fluffy.
  3. Top each pie slice with whipped cream topping and chocolate shavings.

This is one of the BEST recipes!!! I highly recommend it!

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