Bouquet garni (typical herbs assortment for French stews)

Bouquet garni is a generic term used to talk about aromatic herbs usually used in French one-pot dishes. There is no one recipe for it, but it always contains thyme and bay leaves and is frequently bundled into the green part of a leek leaf, tied with twine.

Here is how I do mine.


INGREDIENTS (for one bouquet):
- 1 piece of green leek leaf
- 2 small bay leaves, or 1 big
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 sprig of flat leaf parsley
- cooking twine


RECIPE:
- lay all the herbs into the green leek leaf, roll in a bundle and tie with cooking twine

Note: my leek leaf was a little stiff, so my bouquet ressembled a hobbit packed lunch, but you get the idea ;)
- use as directed in your stew recipe

Pot-au-feu (classic French beef stew)

Pot-au-feu (which translates into 'pot on the fire') has got to be one of the most famous and universally appreciated dishes of French cuisine. You will never find a French person who has not had this dish.
Click here for a little history and knowledge about the dish.

This wonderfully flavored, slow-cooking dish is a staple during the cold months of fall and winter; and it costs very little! It uses very cheap cuts of meat (typically chuck, oxtail, flat ribs and marrowbones) and seasonal vegetables (turnips, leeks, carrots and celery). It is served piping hot, alongside boiled potatoes and a ladleful of broth. The buttery marrow is spread on grilled sourdough and sprinkled with coarse salt... oooh, so good!

The great thing about this dish is that it makes tons of leftovers! Usually eaten cold, with Dijon mustard and cornichons (pickled gherkins), the meat can also be used for a sheperd's pie or in a grilled cheese sandwich with grated gruyere. In my family, the leftover broth was always reheated and used to cook tapioca beads (Perles du Japon) to eat as a light supper, with a slice of grilled sourdough.

It is really a great recipe to have in your repertoire! Try it, you won't be disappointed :)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: this is my own recipe and it involves a lot of steps, but this is I think really worth the effort and time as the result is divine. You can also go ahead and put everything in one pot and cook for 3 hours, it'll still taste amazing and it's a lot less work- just not as pretty ;)

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people, 2 people with leftovers, or 1 person with TONS of leftovers):
- 2 onions, peeled and whole (one will be used to brown over an open flame)
- 3 leeks (or as many as you like, I just had 3 available), reserve the green parts of 1 leek
- 9 carrots
- 5 branches of celeri
- 5 cloves of garlic, still in their skin
- 4 smallish medium turnips, or 1 large yellow turnip (that's what I used, because can you believe that my supermarket was OUT of turnips??? In the middle of October?!)
- 1 bouquet garni (click here for recipe)
- coarse salt
- 20 black peppercorns
- 4 cloves, whole
- 2 lbs beef chuck, whole piece
- 1 lb oxtail
- 1lb lean flat ribs
- 6 marrowbones
- not pictured: 3 large Yukon gold potatoes
- flat leaf parsley for decoration


RECIPE (takes about 4 hours start to finish):
- Put coarse salt on the marrowbones and reserve in the fridge until ready to use

- Take one of the onions, cut it in half, wrap it in aluminium foil and brown it over an open flame

- Cut the vegetables the size you will want to have them in your plate, keeping in mind that if you cut them too small, they will turn to mush in the final presentation. For security, tie the leeks with cooking twine so that they retain their shape while cooking

- Stud the remaining onion with the 4 cloves and crush the peppercorns with a pestle

- In a large stockpot, brown 1 carrot, 1 celery branch and the grilled onion in a little olive oil; this will be the base for the broth. Reserve until ready to use and drain any remaining oil from the stockpot.

- Tie the chuck with cooking twine and put the meat into the stockpot, along with the browned veggies, garlic, pepper, bouquet garni, studded onion and 14 cups of cold water

- bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours on low heat. Skim the brown foam that forms on top of the water regularly. Make sure that the water does not evaporate completely, and cover if necessary.

- after 2 1/2 hours, the meat should be really tender and the broth reduced and concentrated with flavor. Reserve the meat on the side, toss the by-now-overcooked veggies and filter the broth into a pot, through a thin dish towel draped over a sieve. Be sure to squeeze out all the deliciousness into your broth, that's where all the flavor units are!

- Put the meat back in the stockpot and pour the clear broth over it.  Add the marrow bones and the quartered potatoes. Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes

- Add the remaining vegetables (turnips, carrots, celery and leeks), and a little warm water if there is not enough to almost cover the veggies. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes over medium heat.

- Serve family-style, in a large dish

- Or in a single plate as follows: a little bit of each cut of meat, surounded by vegetables and a ladleful of broth. On the side, a slice of grilled sourdough slathered in buttery marrow and sprinkled with coarse salt.

- Bon appetit!!!

Chicken noodle soup

Is there anything cozier than chicken noodle soup when the weather gets crisp, the leaves turn orange and you break your fall and winter gear out?

This is the absolute best weekend project for the amateur cook and foodie. If you feel so inclined, you can even prepare your own chicken broth from scratch (recipe to come soon) in the morning, and this hearty comforting soup in the afternoon for a nice evening wrapped up in your throw, on the couch watching TV.

Sounds pretty good, yeah?

Let's get started!


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people)
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 3 sticks of celery, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced

Note: dice the veggies as small as you like to eat them in the soup because this will not be blended, it is a clear soup. I like mine relatively small
- about 2 cups of cooked chicken meat (I like my soup very chicken-y!)

Note: I used the meat of 3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts used to make broth (recipe to come)
- 1 1/2 cup of noodles (I used whole wheat)

- about 6 cups chicken broth (for this recipe I complemented homemade broth with commercial bricks because I just did not have enough)
- olive oil

RECIPE:
- in a deep pot, saute the veggie holy trinity (onion, carrots and celery) in a splash of olive oil over medium heat until soft (do not brown)
- increase the heat to medium-high, add the broth and bring back to a boil
- add the noodles and cook until the noodles are done to your liking

- shred the chicken meat (or dice, if you prefer) and add to the pot, stir until the chicken is heated through

- serve in a bowl, decorated with fresh parsley -or not-

- enjoy!

Sage, sour cream and cremini mushrooms country-style pork ribs (Slow cooker recipe)

I was doubly excited yesterday to try this new recipe.

First, I was recently gifted a slow cooker by my friend F. who wasn't using it at all, and I was just dying to use it for a comforting stew.
Second, my other friend R. (who is friends with F. coincidentally) had been raving about the French dish "Porc au lait et a la sauge" (pork with milk and sage) for weeks, and since we are indeed in the midst of Autumn, crisper weather, leaves yellowing and all, I figured it would be the absolute perfect time to do this!

The original dish calls for a roast and whole milk, but I adapted to what I had available: country-style ribs and sour cream. I'd seen Chef John at Foodwishes use a mixture of creme fraiche and chicken broth for his version of the similar Italian dish "Maiale al latte", so I figured I could do the same. I also mixed in cremini mushrooms for an added veggie-dimension.

It was a first, like I said, and I will admit that although it was very good, I felt like something was missing. And after a few minutes analyzing my dish, I figured it out: BACON! I missed bacon. Not really surprising, since the original version also contains lardons (diced cured pork belly).

So here it is guys, my recipe for slow-cooked pork ribs, with sage and cream. I will be adding notes in italics with suggestions that I think will improve the final result.


Please excuse the horrid photography, but I started to cook at 8AM with little to no natural day light...

INGREDIENTS:
- 4 lbs bone-in country-style pork ribs
- one 8oz basket of cremini mushrooms
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 large onion, sliced thick
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup chopped sage (I used flash frozen fresh sage, but would highly recommend using fresh for this dish - mine was a bit old and the flavor was a bit lost in the final dish).
- salt and pepper
- a splash of olive oil
- optional: 4 strips of bacon (thick cut, diced)


RECIPE:
- season the pork really well with salt and pepper to taste and brown in a skillet, with a splash of olive oil. You really want to sear the meat so that it develops a lot of flavor and a golden crust

- place the meat on a bed of sliced onions in your slow cooker, add the garlic cloves and chopped sage

Note: if you decide to go the bacon route, now would be the time to sprinkle the diced bacon on top of the meat
- pour the chicken stock over the meat and start the slow cooker, set on HIGH for 5:30 hours

- when you have about 1:30 hours to go, open the lid of the slow cooker and add the cream and quartered mushrooms

Note 1: you can spoon out some of the rendered fat at this moment, before adding the cream and mushrooms.
Note 2: I noticed at the end of the cooking that the sauce was more watery than I would have liked and I think that precooking the mushrooms in a little butter or olive oil and browning them would be better than adding them raw. That way, they would not release that much moisture in the final dish
- at the end of the cooking time, the meat should slide right off the bone and be the most tender you've ever had. Serve with a spoonful of sauce over a bed of creamy polenta, mashed potatoes, egg pasta or rice (I had polenta, and I think it really was a good choice of starch)

Note: if the sauce is too liquid still, you can transfer it into a pot and thicken it over high heat, using a splash of cornstarch diluted in a little water and stirring until you reach the consistency you want

- Enjoy!