Blanquette

Along with coq au vin and bœuf bourguignon, blanquette de veau is one of France's most iconic culinary concoctions. For decades, it was rated no. 1 on polls in France asking people what their favorite dish was; maybe it still is. I make a blanquette at least once a year, and often several times. It's a veal stew (un plat mijoté, or simmered dish) made with veal broth, white wine, cream, mushrooms, and onions. At the table, you squeeze a little bit of lemon juice onto the stew to perk it up. And you serve it, usually, with steamed white rice.

Here's the blanquette I made for lunch yesterday. It's made in two steps: first you simmer some veal (shoulder meat is nice and tender) in a mixture of water and white wine with onions and carrots, for two hours. Then, using some of the broth you get from simmering the veal, you make a white sauce (une sauce béchamel) in which you cook some mushrooms and then re-heat the veal. Voilà.

You can make blanquette with chicken, turkey, or lamb. Follow this link and scroll down to see many posts about blanquettes on this blog.