French Cooking Shows and Mustard Cream Chicken Legs

I love watching French television. It keeps me up-to-date with whatever is going on in France and it also helps to improve my French. You probably won't be surprised to know that I am especially fond of French cooking shows. Les Escapades de Petitrenaud, for example, is always very entertaining. Seeing how Jean- Luc interacts with chefs is fun and the recipes are never mundane. Not your everyday cooking, but certainly inspirational. Last summer I really enjoyed Le BBQ de Louis, and no, not only because Louis-François Marcotte is serious 'eye candy' for us girls, but because the recipes were smooth, fresh and extremely cool, like the chef himself.
Last Wednesday, I happened to catch a show about mustard in Burgundy where they featured La Moutarderie Fallot in Beaune and talked about the production of mustard. Did you know that most of the mustard seeds used in French mustard are actually imported from countries like Canada, The US, Hungary, Romania and Denmark? Most of the mustard seed fields in Burgundy have been wiped out by the more profitable production of colza. This company, however, is doing its share to encourage the cultivation of mustard seeds in Burgundy. They work with wonderful ingredients like the white Aligoté wine and have a wide variety of flavors. Lucky me! I will definitely be stocking up when I go back to Burgundy in a few weeks!
Watching the show inspired me to make a nice dish with mustard and chicken and to pop open a bottle of Aligoté, which I usually leave for the summer, but oh well. Unfortunately, I did not have any good French mustard in the house. Only a few small jars which I had gotten at the Maille shop in Dijon last year, all with very jazzy flavors. Not really what I had in mind. I opted for a Dutch mustard from Limburg with a rather mild taste and a coarse texture. The dish was very simple. Plump chicken legs, sweet shallots, a few garlic cloves, wine, mustard and cream. We had it with some fettuccini but I can imagine it would be great with some fluffy basmati rice. 


Chicken in Mustard Cream
Serves 3

flour seasoned with a generous amount of salt and pepper
2 tsps goose fat
6 chicken legs
5 shallots, quartered
2 cloves of garlic, halved and flattened with the back of a knife
100 ml Aligoté
200 ml strong chicken stock
2 tsps dried tarragon
1 1/2 tbsp Limburg mustard 
65 ml cream


Dust the chicken with the seasoned flour shaking off any excess. Melt the goose fat in a large casserole and brown the chicken on all sides. Add the shallots and the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add in the wine, the stock and the tarragon. Lower the heat, cover the pan and allow the chicken to cook gently for 40 minutes. Add the musrtard and the cream, cover and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Bolognese Sauce

Personally, I don't think there's such a thing as a 'quick' bolognese sauce. This is definitely one of those recipes that require time, not in preparation, but in cooking. The longer the sauce cooks, the better the taste. Another thing bolognese sauce requires is wine. Not white, but red. A good glassful to lift the flavor and add depth to the sauce.
I like to make spaghetti bolognese during the weekend when there's no hurry and plenty of time to enjoy the aromas released from the long, gentle simmering time. And with a good bottle of Chianti at hand and a few Dean Martin records, the wait is always a pleasant affair. Serve the sauce with spaghetti, fresh bread and a crisp green salad dressed with nothing more than a good extra virgin olive oil and a fine sprinkling of fleur de sel.

Here's the recipe:
PS: Of course, the sauce is also excellent in lasagne

Bolognese Sauce
Serves 4

1/2 carrot
2 stalks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
2 tbsps mild olive oil
500g ground beef
6 tomatoes
4 tbsps tomato paste
130 ml red wine
salt and pepper, to taste

First, blanch and peel your tomatoes. Make a cross on the bottom of each tomato with the tip of a sharp knife, put them in a bowl and cover them with hot water for 2-3 minutes. Drain and cool them with cold water. Peel, chop and set aside. Mince the carrot, celery, garlic and onion finely using a food processor, or by hand, should you be partial to chopping. Heat the oil in a pan, add the minced veggies and sweat gently for 5 minutes. Add your beef and turn up the heat. Once your beef is browned, add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato paste, wine and salt and pepper. Stir, cover and gently cook for 1,5-2 hours. Check the seasoning and serve.

Choucroute Garnie

The winter has finally managed to catch up with us. It's not cold, it's freezing! Beautifully sunny though, but dreadfully cold. I literally thought I was going to freeze when I was walking home on Monday evening! We're kind of worried about some of the poor, confused plants that thought it was spring and started to blossom. Daffodils and daisies. Hydrangeas even! Who knows if they'll survive the sudden change in weather.
We're surviving though and that's partly due to a diet of French winter dishes that begin with lots of goose fat, carry on with lots of wine and end with lots of laughter. As you might remember, I recently made a good cassoulet. It was rich, meaty and as warming as a roaring fire in a country kitchen. Choucroute was bound to be next on the menu. Not only an easy meal, but proper, stick-to-the-ribs winter food. 
Here's the recipe, but be warned, this is not for the calorie-shy reader...


Choucroute Garnie
Serves 4

2 tsps goose fat
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
125g bacon, cubed
800g sauerkraut
tsp juniper berries
a bay leaf or two
tsp sugar
a large glass of dry white wine
salt 
6 black peppercorns
1 large smoked sausage, cut in four pieces
4 hot dogs
4 slices cured pork loin
boiled potatoes and mustard, to serve


Heat the goose fat in a large pan. Add the onions and garlic and gently cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the bacon and give it all an extra minute. Follow with the sauerkraut, juniper berries, bay leaf, sugar, wine, salt and pepper. Cook the sauerkraut over a gentle heat for about 2 hours. Add in the sausage and give it 15 more minutes. Finally add in the hot dogs and the pork loin. Cook for a further 10 minutes and serve with the boiled potatoes, the mustard and a dry, crisp riesling.