Brotherly Games: Mustard Chicken

   My friend Valentin is writing Brotherly Games, including descriptions of the fantastic French cuisine. As an added bonus, here is the first recipe you can make on your own in order to get more into the feel of the story. You can follow Valentin here. From chapter 10:

Mustard Chicken

-1- A la cocotte, tu fais revenir tes cuisses de poulet salées et poivrées sur un beau lit  d'oignons que tu fait cuire un peu avant jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient translucides.  

-2- tu peux rajouter quelques carottes que tu transformes en tagliatelles avec un  économe. Voire des champignons. Ensuite tu mets une bonne quantité de moutarde (environ quatre cuillères à soupe ). Tu fais un peu revenir, et tu couvres d'eau en laissant  apparaître les cuisses comme des îlots( si tu as un peu de cidre ou de vin blanc, tu peux  en mettre aussi). Tu laisses cuire a feu moyen 45'. Attention que ça n'attache pas, sache  rajouter un peu d'eau au besoin, sans faire une soupe.. Ne sale pas trop à cause de la  moutarde... Rejoute un peu de crème fraiche en touche finale... 

INGREDIENTS: (For Four)  

2 Onions 

4 Uncooked chicken thighs  

1 Carrot 

4-5 Button Mushrooms  

Real Mustard  

Cooking white wine  

Sour Cream 

RECIPE:  

First step: 

Chop the onions in cubes and cook them in a large pot with olive oil or butter. Stir until the  onions are translucid and add the chicken thighs that you will have salted and peppered  beforehand.  

Second step:  

With a potato peeler, chop the carrot in peelings. Chop the button mushrooms and add them in  the pot with the carrots peeling. 

Add four whole big spoon of mustard into the pot and then cover the chicken thighs with  water and half a glass of wine until they are almost completely under the water, stir to mix the  mustard and the water equally. Let the chicken thighs cook for 45 minutes on medium heat,  be careful not to let the chicken stick to the pot.  

Third step:  

If necessary, add water during the cooking. At the end, add a whole spoon of sour cream and  stir. Check the chicken, it should be ready!  

You can serve the Mustard Chicken with rice, potatoes, or even pasta.  

Bon appétit! 

Brotherly Games: Tarte Tatin

My friend Valentin is writing Brotherly Games, including descriptions of the fantastic French cuisine. As an added bonus, here is the first recipe you can make on your own in order to get more into the feel of the story. You can follow Valentin here.

From Chapter 2, made by Henri's mother for lunch:

Tarte Tatin

Ingredients for four persons; 

• 10 Table Apples. 

• 100 grams of Sugar.

• 100 grams of salted butter. 

• 1 round puff pastry for pie. 

1st step: 

Peel the apples and take out their seeds. Cut the apples in half and slice 2 centimetre wide lamela with the apple. 

2nd step:

Take a pie plate and use it as a frying pan. The pie plate should be in metal, make sure it is suitable for the fire or the cooking plates. 

In the pie plate, put 100 grams of Sugar and 100 grams of butter. If the butter isn't salted, add a pinch of salt. 

Cook the butter and sugar and make it caramelize.

3rd step:

When the caramel is brown, add the sliced apples. Let the apple cook on medium heat, 5 minutes on each side should be enough. Cook the apples on both sides. 

4th step:

Once the apples are cooked, take the pie plate out of the fire and let everything cool. Wait for roughly ten minutes. 

Dispose the apples equitably on the pie plate. Then cover the apples and the pie plate with a puff pastry. 

5th step:

Put the pie plate in the oven and cook the pie for 35 to 40 minutes at 180 degree Celsius heat. Reminder : the puff pastry is on top, and not on the bottom of the pie plate. 

6th step:

When the pie is cooked, take it out of the oven. 

Place a second pie plate on top of the already used pie plate. The two pie plates should be of equal proportions. 

Seal the second pie plate on top of the first and in a swift motion turn the apple pie upside down so that the puff pastry is on the bottom and the apples on top. 

This is a delicate step, be careful to seal the two pie plates properly or you might make a mess. 

When the apple pie is successfully in the second pie plate, apples on top and puff pastry on the bottom, it is ready to be served. 

You may serve it with vanilla ice cream. 

Bon appétit!

Brotherly Games: Goat Cheese Lasagna

  My friend Valentin is writing Brotherly Games, including descriptions of the fantastic French cuisine. As an added bonus, here is the first recipe you can make on your own in order to get more into the feel of the story. You can follow Valentin here

From Chapter 5, as Henri made for himself and George:

Goat Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients for four persons; 

For the bolognese: 

• 500 grams of Minced beef meat. 

• 1 Onion. 

• 1 Garlic clove. 

• Extra virgin olive oil. 

• 4 Peeled Roma tomatoes. (Or tomato paste)

• Dried oregano, thyme, and rosemary.

For the béchamel: 

• Valençay goat cheese. (unless you're in France you probably won't find it in a supermarket,

• so you can either buy it in a cheese shop or replace it with a goat cheese bar.)

• 60 grams of flour.

• 50 grams of (preferably salted) butter. 

• 50 cl of milk. 

For the Lasagna: 

• Lasagna pasta. (I recommend Barilla.) 

• Parmigiano powder. (Can be replaced with Gran padamo, or Pecorino.)

1st step. 

Chop the onion and fry it with extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan. When the onions are caramelized,

add the minced meat and stir. 

Chop the garlic clove and add it to the meat. 

2nd step. 

When the meat is cooked, chop the peeled roma tomatoes and add them in the frying pan. 

Add some dried oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Stir and let the bolognese sauce cool. 

3rd step. 

Slice the goat cheese in small cubes. 

In a sauce pan, melt 50 grams of butter. When the butter has melted, progressively add the 60 grams

of flour while you stir. 

Let it cook on low heat for 1-2 minutes. Then add the milk progressively while stirring. 

When the 50cl of milk have been added, and the sauce is getting thicker, add the sliced goat cheese. 

When the goat cheese is fully melted, take the sauce pan out of the fire and let it cool. 

4th step. 

In a large rectangle Lasagna dish, lay one layer of the Lasagna pasta on the bottom of the dish

until they cover the whole bottom of the dish. 

Add the first layer of bolognese sauce, use only half of the sauce you have. 

On top of the bolognese layer, add ⅓ of your bechamel. Cover the bechamel with another layer of

Lasagne pasta. 

Repeat the process for the second layer, using the second half of your bolognese sauce, then the

second third of your bechamel, and cover it with your third layer of Lasagna pasta. 

On top of the last layer of Lasagna pasta, add your last third of bechamel to cover the pasta. 

When the bechamel covers the whole pasta, add a generous amount of parmigiano powder on top of it. 

5th step. 

Let the Lasagna cook in the oven for 40 minutes in a 210 degree Celsius convection mode. 

When the Lasagna is cooked, let it cool for at least 45 minutes before serving. 

Bon appétit! 

Brotherly Games: Carbonara Pasta & Granny's Risotto

 My friend Valentin is writing Brotherly Games, including descriptions of the fantastic French cuisine. As an added bonus, here is the first recipe you can make on your own in order to get more into the feel of the story. You can follow Valentin here

From Chapter 6, and made by Jean-Baptiste's father:

Carbonara Pasta

Ingredients for two; 

• 150 grams of Pork Belly.

• Half a lemon, or lemon juice. 

• 1 onion, or 1 shallot. 

• Fresh parsley. 

• 20 centiliters of sour cream. 

• 250 grams of Tagliatelle pasta (preferably not fresh one).

• 2 yolks.

1st step:

Slice the Pork Belly in thin rectangles (5cm long, 1,5cm wide). The pork belly should be sliced in a way that you have several layers of meat and fat. For an indication google the word "Lardons". 

Chop the onion or shallot, they should be sliced thinner and shorter than the pork belly. 

Slice the fresh parsley. 

Fry the pork belly along the onion/shallot without any added oil or butter. When the frying pan is hot

and the pork belly fat has started to melt add some lemon juice, roughly two spoons. 

2nd step. 

When most of the lemon juice is evaporated, whip the sour cream until it's fully liquid, and add it to the frying pan. Stir regularly. 

3rd step.

When the sour cream is boiling, turn off the fire. Add the sliced fresh parsley and stir. 

Boil your pasta as your sauce cools. When the pasta are ready, you can either add the sauce to the

whole pot or add it individually, to each plate. You can add some pepper. 

Finally, add the yolk to your plate and stir the pasta. 

You can use sliced cheese. Either Parmiggiano, or Grand Padamo, or Pecorino. 

Bon appetit! 

From Chapter 5, George asking Henri to make grandmother's risotto:

George's and Henri's Granny's Risotto

Ingredients for two:

• 200 grams of Risotto rice. 

• Cheap white wine.

• Extra virgin olive oil.

• 100 grams of peas. 

• 150 grams of Dried duck breast. 

• 5 button mushrooms. 

• 25cl of sour cream.

• Fresh chive. 

• 1 pear. 

• 0.1 grams of Saffron. 

• Honey. 

1st step. 

Peal the pear, take the seed out, slice the pear in little cubes of roughly 2cm and put it in a sauce pan.

Add water and honey and put it on low heat for 15 minutes. 

2nd step. 

Slice the Duck breast in very thin lamela. \

Slice the fresh chive. 

Slice the mushrooms. 

3rd step. 

Put two spoons of extra virgin olive oil into a frying pan and put the risotto rice in the pan when it's hot. 

Let the rice fry for 2-3 minutes without letting it burn. 

Add 30cl of white cooking wine. 

4th step. 

When most of the white wine has evaporated, add the mushrooms and the peas. Add 10cl of hot water

in the frying pan. (Never let the frying pan getting dry, add water if necessary) 

5th step. 

After 10 minutes of cooking the risotto, whip the sour cream until it's liquid and add it to the frying pan. 

Add the pears, the slices of duck breast, the fresh chive, and the saffron. 

Reduce the heat and let the cooking finish on low heat. 

6th step

When the rice has absorbed most of the sauce, add two spoons of honey, some pepper, and stir. 

Serve the risotto in soup plates, add some fresh chive on top and it's ready! 

Bon appetit!