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French Chicken with Apple-Cognac Sauce
Bridge to Somewhere
My mother had seven children to care for. It didn't leave her much
time for herself.
I do remember her saving time for herself in one fashion. She was in a
bridge club. Bridge club was 8 ladies that met about once a month to
play cards. The hosting of the event rotated, so every once in awhile
it became my mother's turn to host the bridge club at our house.
I don't know how she did it. Our house was always chaotic with seven
kids. There was homework to be done after school, TV to be watched,
dinner to be eaten, baths to be taken, more homework to be done by
older kids, and the list went on and on.
Most bridge clubs that I know of take place in the afternoon. That
might have made it a bit easier; to hold it while kids were at school.
This bridge club met at night, after dinner.
I remember my mother preparing for bridge club. Half of our house was
completely transformed. It was cleaned to the point of sparkling. The
living room glowed. There was an ante-room that was used and so was
the dining room. The living room and ante-room both had tables set up
with 4 chairs each for the playing of cards.
There were pretty decks of cards set out, little pads and pencils,
dainty napkins; all things for little, curious hands to get in
trouble. We'd poke our fingers and marvel at the designs but never
more than that.
The dining room held little, pretty antique plates, spoons, cups and
saucers, more dainty napkins and anticipation of snacks and dessert.
My mother had two very special nut cups that were part of the event
each time. She'd put, what now, would be classified as "fancy mixed"
nuts in the cups. My brother and I would stand transfixed, staring at
those bowls of nuts. Our faces were just tall enough that we were sort
of eye level with the exotic nut mixture. It was all we could do to
keep our "paws off". Once in awhile my mom would let us eat a nut.
That was heaven.
When the door bell started to ring we had strict instructions to march
up to bed. We already had our footy pajamas on. We were ready. I
thought it was so funny that the front doorbell rang. I thought all
people came to the back door unless they were selling something. These
ladies must have been pretty special to come to the front door. They'd
waltz in with their hats, handbags, their pretty coats and some of
them even had those "animal things" tied around their collars. (I
inherited my mother's "animal thing" and I keep it in a very precious
box. The stone martins.) The ladies would chat and twitter. Kisses on
cheeks exchanged everywhere. My brother and I didn't want to be
involved in any kissing so we'd rush up the stairs.
We were supposed to be going to bed. However, the temptation was just
too much to resist. Lest we be caught by our mother, we'd crouch down
just above the stairway landing. We'd try to hear what the ladies were
talking about. Frankly, I don't recall anything they ever said, and
what did I care what they were discussing anyway? Would a five year
old understand? No matter. I thought it worth my effort.
Of course, we'd inevitably giggle about something. We'd be caught. And
we'd be admonished and sent up to our beds. No matter. We were tired
anyway. And these ladies weren't nearly as interesting as we thought
they'd be. But next time they came, the nuts would still be of great
focus and we'd still hide on the stairs and eavesdrop. That's for
sure. Bridge club was special.
French Chicken with Apple-Cognac Sauce
Today's recipe is
all about easy cooking for company.
There's a traditional French country dish called "Poulet Vallee
d'Auge. It translates to chicken with applejack sauce. Calvados is
French apple brandy. You can use that in this dish if you want to be
authentic. What I've done is change the dish enough to simplify it,
change the ingredients so they are more readily available, and still
kept it fancy enough that you can serve it to special friends and
family.
Serves 4. Can be doubled easily
4 chicken breasts. Skin on with bones, or skinless. Your choice
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbl of olive oil
Olive oil
spray to coat the veggies.
2 baking potatoes, washed. Peeling is
optional. Cut into one-inch chunks
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
into rings (or you can use baby carrots, snack sized)
2 medium
onions cut into wedges
1/4 pound of green beans. If you want to
be fancy use haricot verts (French green beans). Trim the ends
1
medium zucchini washed, cut into chunks
2 Tbl of butter
1/3 cup of Calvados, cognac or bourbon (If you use Calvados you can
eliminate the apple juice)
1/2 cup of apple juice (buy the tiny
bottle in the baby food section if you don't want a lot of leftover
apple juice)
1 cup of half and half (or cream if you want to
calorie splurge)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Season the chicken with your salt and pepper. In a sauté pan
put in the olive oil. Brown the chicken skin side down. This will take
about 3-5 minutes on medium high. Turn chicken over. SAVE the pan that
the chicken was in. You'll use it again later. Then transfer the
chicken to the oven in an oven proof dish. (If you sautéed the
chicken in a pan that can go in the oven you don't need to transfer).
The chicken will continue to roast. Roast the chicken for 30 minutes
and then remove.
Next, take the potato, carrots and onions and put them in an oven
proof casserole. Spray them with olive oil to coat them. Roast them
along with the chicken.
After 30 minutes has passed, add the green beans and the zucchini to
the pan with the potatoes. Take out the chicken and cover it to keep
it warm.
Take the sauté pan and add butter, the cognac (or other liquor)
and apple juice. Saute the sauce on medium high to get it boiling.
Then turn down and simmer until it reduces by half. Stir periodically.
Then add the half and half and continue to cook until the cream begins
to thicken and coat the back of a spoon (as a tester). This takes just
a minute or two. Turn off. Take the veggies out of the oven and pour
the sauce over them to coat. This makes a slightly sweet sauce that
pairs well with the chicken.
Put the chicken on a plate (or in a bowl) and spoon the veggies and
sauce over the chicken. This is French Country cooking at its finest.
Garnish with parsley if you want more color. Serve with some bread to
soak up the sauce and a simple salad and you have a satisfying, yummy
dinner.
Note: if you do not cook with alcohol you can substitute water for the
alcohol and use the apple juice as noted. The sauce will have less of
a bite but will still be tasty.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
Send email to Zola at zolacooks@gmail.com.
Correction to last week's recipe: The cooking time to the Roth
Family Sour Cream cookies was accidentally omitted. You can see the
corrected version of the recipe here:
Roth Family
Christmas Cookies (Sour Cream Cookies)
For more information on Zola and to see more of her recipes, visit her
Web site at
www.dinnerwithzola.com.
Send feedback to Zola at this address:
dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com
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