I was supposed to be bold enough to try two french lessons from Julia for Saturday: poached eggs for lunch and roasted chicken for dinner. Feeling overwhelmed and underzealous, I saved the poaching for Sunday brunch and invited some good friends to join David in the panel of judges for the roast chicken dinner extravaganza. After all, how can you know if your food is good if you only ever get one opinion. :) 7pm was gonna come quick...
Continued after the jump...
The preparations began Friday night. Remembering a brining technique I learned at Thanksgiving and thinking back to how tender and juicy my roasted turkey turned out, thought I'd try it again. I scoured through Mastering the Art of French Cooking for some additional advise from Julia about brining poultry... nothing. Really, is brining not a french technique?! Well, I'm a chef in my own way, and it's my house damn it, I'll brine my chicken whether or not Julia tells me to. LOL! So, Friday night I cleaned the chicken thoroughly and carefully covered it in crushed sea salt to sit in the fridge for the next 18 hours.
At 5 pm Saturday, I rinsed off all the salt brine, dried the chicken and then we were ready. Julia's casserole-roasted chicken starts by rubbing a tarragon and butter concoction all throughout the cavity of the bird. After you truss the chicken...
wait a minute, truss!?! (Recipe indicates: see pg 237 to figure out how to truss.)
OK, I had to tie up the chicken, too bad I forgot to buy white trussing string at the grocery store. Hoping that doubled up white sewing thread works, I trussed my chicken and then gave it a butter massage. Next step, searing the bird on all sides in a hot butter & oil pan.
Brown for 3 minutes on each side. Well, trying to turn a 5 pound bird using two wooden spoons which is cooking in scorching hot butter and oil turns out to be pretty dangerous.
What is cooking without some battle wounds tho, right?
I finished searing the chicken, briefly sautéed the carrots and shallot, layered it all in a heated casserole dish (a trick from Julia to keep it moist, cover it with foil and then put the top on your casserole dish) and into the oven it went: 325° for 1 hr 40 mins. Now I could relax & have a glass of champagne with my friends...
With about 30 minutes left on my timer; I got back in the kitchen to start my risotto. I had never made risotto before. Anyone who has ever watched Hell's Kitchen has learned to fear the dish. According to Chef Gordon Ramsey, no-one can ever cook it right. HA!
But with Julia by my side, I was feeling up to the challenge. Although this technique from France is different than what I've seen in Hell's Kitchen, it wasn't really that hard.
1. Sauté minced onions in butter
2. Blend in the raw rice, heat in the pan until a milky color.
3. Add boiling chicken broth and your herb bouquet. Stir once.
4. Pour into a covered casserole dish and into the oven at 375° until it starts to simmer.
5. Once simmering, reduce the oven temp to 350° and let it cook undisturbed for about 15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
6. Fluff with a fork. Done.
After the chicken had roasted and was resting in the serving dish, the risotto was done and set aside. I quickly sautéed some green beans, whisked together the super easy Brown Tarragon Sauce from the chicken juices, corn starch mixed with port wine, and a pat of butter... then we were ready to eat! And boy were we hungry!
Oh my gosh... it was fantastic! Kathleen - "this is the kind of meal you go out to a fancy restaurant and pay $80+ dollars to eat." Sean - "I thought this brown sauce was going to be like a normal brown gravy, but it was like my taste buds were having an orgy in my mouth." HAHA, thanks guys! This was the best feeling ever, a good meal with good friends!
(Recipes courtesy of Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol.1)
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