The Météo France forecast for Saint-Aignan later today.A high of 12ºC, or 53ºF, is not exactly summery.
That's what William Leymergie just said as an introduction to the weather report on his morning show on France 2 television. In Saint-Aignan, the temperature at 6:00 a.m., when I got up to walk Callie around the yard (yes, she did...), was just short of 8ºC — that's 46ºF. Brrrr! Ça caille, pour un 15 mai. That's colder than you-know-what for May 15. The sun is out now, but it's supposed to rain later.
I think we were right not to start our garden early. Transplanting tomato seedlings and sowing seeds outdoors might have to wait a few more days, for better conditions. That's OK, but rain makes it harder to deal with Callie, who needs to go outside every couple of hours and spend some time sniffing round the yard. It's been chilly and damp for a few days now.
So when it's chilly and damp, my thoughts turn to — guess what — food. A couple of days ago I cooked some chicken with mushrooms in a red wine sauce. It turned out to be really delicious. Here's what I did.First, brown the chicken pieces in a pan in butter or oil, or a mixture. When they've taken on good color, take them out and then sauté some shallots and mushrooms in the same pan. Sprinkle with herbs and a little flour (as a thickener), let that cook for a minute longer, and then pour on some red wine (½ cup or more). Make sure the flour has cooked a little in fat or oil before you add liquid, or you'll get lumps.
FritesOptionally, add a little chicken or veal stock (or even a little bit of crushed chicken or vegetable bouillon cube) and a spoonful of tomato paste for color. Stir the sauce until it's smooth and slightly thickened. Then put the chicken pieces back in the pan and let them cook on low, partially covered, for 20 minutes or more, until they are done the way you like them.
Serve the chicken and sauce with French fries, and have a green salad alongside or as a separate course afterwards.
Sauté de poulet aux champignons et vin rougeDo Americans ever eat French fries with gravy these days, or are they always served with ketchup? In France, frites are often served with meat that is cooked in a sauce, like steak au poivre or chicken prepared this way. No ketchup required.
Ok, feeling good here about being a little further south in the sunshine.
ReplyDeleteI like your chicken dish. Will try that version. We do a Mediterranean style similar with olives instead of mushrooms and adding quartered fresh tomatoes for the last 20 minutes of cooking.
But... fess up. Those frites look awfully regular in size and cut. :))
We had our warm sunny weather a week or two ago, when it was rainy and stormy in the Midi. Friends were in Sarlat and then in Lourmarin, and it rained a lot in both places. You have to take it as it comes.
ReplyDeleteI've never done chicken with olives, but I have done duck that way. Very good idea.
As for the frites, where they come from and how they are made isn't the point, it's how they taste that counts, don't you think? You know what they say about frozen vegetables...
The only place I eat fries is in France, so no ketchup for me.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good-looking chicken dish. Maybe I'll fix it for Wednesday night dinner with the family
Great-looking chicken and frites! As for the mois de mai, nothing joli about it. We had May in April, and now it's April in May ;)
ReplyDeleteYou can't have it all!
Wherever the frites came from, if they taste as good as they look, I'm on it. It is really no fun to make french fris in a home kitchen. Who wants a house that smells like a diner?
ReplyDeleteI'll fess up. We buy the frites frozen at the supermarché. We have an electric friteuse that cooks them to perfection. Frozen potatoes, that's all it is. No additives or anything.
ReplyDeleteWe've done frites from fresh potatoes for years, but the frozen ones are better because they are blanched just right in the freezing process and have that perfect balance of croustillant on the outside and moelleux on the inside.
I believe that the big companies that process and freeze potatoes for frites buy up the best potatoes available for frying. So the frozen fries are better than fresh ones unless you are lucky enough to get the right potatoes. And as W. said, the fryer makes it easy and basically odorless. Oh, don't forget to open the kitchen window. That helps too.
ReplyDeleteI used to love fries and brown gravy, but alas, I no longer eat potatoes. When I was in college in upstate NY back in the 60s, there was an all-night diner that served a "hot hamburg sandwich," a hamburger smothered in brown gravy. I used to piss them off by asking for mine to have mayonnaise added to the hamburger before assembling the burger. Mayonnaise was a California thing in those days. Rochesterians thought is was evil to add it to a hamburger of any type.
ReplyDeletePeter
Peter, in North Carolina we always had mayonnaise -- Duke's Mayonnaise, preferably -- on our hamburgers and hot dogs. When I was in high school, we used to go to a diner where the specialty was sausage sandwiches with mayonnaise -- and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like Dukes on a burger. It is also great, as the Germans know, on Frites. I have not had gravy on fries in a long time. There was a restaurant that I used to go to in Atlanta that served fries with gravy. It was very good! I prefer mayo, though. And always Dukes, if available.
ReplyDelete"This post has been removed by the author." Is there a way to modify my posts ? baaad.
ReplyDeleteCette fois-ci en Français..
Votre article sur les frites m'a fait sourire et m'a rappelé que elles sont dites "françaises" dans la plupart des pays, or pour moi elles étaient américaines il y a encore peu de temps !
Est-ce vrai cette rumeur comme quoi les américains avaient boycotté le nom French Fries dans leurs restaurants en réaction au "non" de Chirac à la guerre en Irak ? Si c'est le cas, qu'en est-il désormais ?
Personnellement je mange un poulet-frites avec du ketchup (comme quoi..:-)), une entrecôte-frites avec une sauce au roquefort et les autres plats avec la sauce de la viande. Ken, connaissez-vous le Bousquet ? Leurs frites sont extra à mon gout ;-)
Oui Sylvain, je connais le Bousquet. On y mange bien. J'y vais de temps en temps avec mes visiteurs venus d'Amérique.
ReplyDeleteAfter Chirac said no to French involvement in Iraq, a little restaurant in my home area in the U.S., Morehead City/Beaufort, N.C., decided to change the name of its fried potatoes from "French fries" to "freedom fries." The idea caught on, and even the cafeteria in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC adopted the term "freedom fries."
I think all that is over now. Les pommes frites sont redevenues françaises — fried potatoes are French again in America.
Mike, glad you know and appreciate Duke's Mayonnaise. I don't know why it hasn't become a nationwide brand. I wish I could get it here, but then it's pretty easy to make your own mayonnaise and it's just as good if not better.