27 May 2016

Poulet à l'estragon

I'm running late this morning because instead of doing this blog post I've been working on all the photos of hot-air balloons that I took yesterday. I'm not ready to post them yet — maybe tomorrow. At least a dozen montgolfières floated right over our house yesterday morning, just about scraping the treetops. And then a minute ago we had a power cut. That also slowed me down. It was a blip, really, but it crashed our computers and our satellite TV even though it only lasted a second or two. Who knows if it's related to strikes? Could be... or just a coincidence.


Anyway, we have a beautiful tarragon plant growing in a pot on the front deck. The plant is probably 4 or 5 years old and it comes back every spring. We both like tarragon, and try to find opportunities to use it in our cooking. I repotted the plant into a new and bigger container early in the spring, and it is growing like a weed.


So one of the real classic dishes using tarragon — estragon in French — is poulet à l'estragon. I see a lot of recipes for it in English (Tarragon Chicken) and in French on the web. Here's the recipe I followed — we used to watch Bernard Laurance's cooking show on Cuisine TV before the channel was taken off the air. Here's a link to my translation of the recipe into English.


Walt had gone to the market on Saturday morning in Saint-Aignan and bought a fine free-range chicken from our favorite local poultry processor and vendor. I didn't take any photos as I prepared and cooked it, only of the leftovers. That's what you see here. The sauce contains chicken broth, aromatic vegetables like shallots and garlic, cream, and of course tarragon. We had some cooked celery in the fridge, and we like celery as a side vegetable, so we cooked some rice and there we had our lunch.

By the way, Callie spent a quiet night without once moving and now she's gone out for a walk with Walt. I think her back leg is already getting better, because I saw her running when I looked out the back window.

18 comments:

  1. Just like white or red wine, I put tarragon in everything I can. Poulet à l'estragon is one of my favorites, whether with red (burgundy style) or white wine. Vinaigre à l'estragon is the one I use all the time. Can't have enough tarragon!

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    1. I obviously used white wine in my Tarragon Chicken this time. I've been thinking a Tarragon Rabbit, Lapin à l'estragon, might be a good thing to make, and maybe with red wine next time.

      I didn't have time to translate Bernard Laurance's recipe this morning. If anybody wants a translation, I can do one.

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    2. Lapin aux pruneaux is also a French classic.

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  2. We had a streak of power cuts a while back. Every time the wind blew (which is often, in Aude). It wreaked havoc with our computers and my work (I'm typing notes furiously during a phone interview and both the computer and phone go dead. explain that to an interviewee). EDF denied there was a problem. It wasn't until the cuts messed up the mairie's computers (clearly less used and less critical to operations than mine) that the mairie complained and the line was fixed.

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    1. We have purchased four UPS units [76 Euros a pop!]
      One for each computer "base"....the main one upstairs in the office over here...which also protects the integrity of signal in the Livebox and 'phone line...and another for each of the main work areas and the Hi-Fi...touch wood it seems to have worked.
      The electricity supply in France is decidedly "rough" with minute cuts and brown-outs almost constantly...this shortens the life of halogen bulbs, low energy lightbulbs and fluorescent tubes and LED lightbulbs as each of these cuts and some brown outs are treated as a switch action.... So 80,000 switch actions doesn't equate to us turning the things off physically...so, if you wonder why the latter two types die...that is the reason...it kills their internal circuitry. For the halogen bulb, they can't cope with the expansion and contraction of their filaments as well as old tungsten bulbs!!

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    2. Over the years, we've gone through long periods when the electricity seemed to cut off frequently, and others when it was very stable. I don't know what explains that. How long does the UPS last if you have a long power failure?

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  3. On first glance, I thought that celery was a tamale husk, lol. Your tarragon looks beautiful. Looking forward to your balloon photos.

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  4. i've been following your news about the strikes and the power... how strange. i think if that happened here people would not be on the side of the strikers at all. i'm so sorry about Callie's bad nite and her leg. we've been dealing with a lot of older dog mobility problems if you need more info plz feel free to send an email. i can tell you what we know and what has helped.
    :-)

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    1. Thanks OFG. Callie's doing okay. I get worried when she has symptoms like the ones we saw over the past few days because our previous dog, Collette, acted that way. It turned out she had had a minor stroke. Then a couple of years went by during which she dot better, but a stroke took her from us in 2006 when she was 14.

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  5. Oh, I'm glad to know that Callie was running today :) Sweet girl, that Callie :)

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    1. The pup seems to be back to normal. She climbed the steep loft stairs last night.

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  6. Yay for Callie's speedy recovery! The recipe looks yummy and easy to understand. I think you left out the cream...I'm buying tarragon soon, but it doesn't enjoy Alabama heat much.

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    1. You can make this with dried tarragon, Evelyn. And the cream — well, I mentioned it in the post and I definitely put it in the chicken to make the "gravy" before we ate it.

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  7. Ken, given your uncertainty of a "stable" power grid, it might be a good idea to use an UPS for your computers. I'd highly recommend the APC brand - been using them for years. The size you need will depend on the load that is connected and the time you need it to run. These small units are primarily used to carry the load for 10 minutes or so, giving you time to shut down in an orderly manner. As an added bonus, they usually have built-in surge protection to guard against over voltage. Have a look at your computer power requirements (in VA or watts) and choose an UPS that is at least double that size. The most common UPS for a home desktop/laptop is 550VA or 330 watts.

    https://www.amazon.fr/APC-BE550G-FR-Onduleur-BACK-UPS-550VA/dp/B002QA8ZAY/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1464368627&sr=1-11&keywords=apc

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    1. Thanks Terry. We are in the middle of another thunderstorm and I'm hoping my router won't get fried by a lightning strike the way it did a few years back. I'll look into a UPS or two. Glad to see you commenting.

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