Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
It's casserole, Jim, but not as we know it!
Last night I cooked a big load of chicken casserole - nice big chicken thigh pieces, browned in the pan first with seasoned flour on them, with a sauce of white wine, cream, chicken stock and mushroom stock. The rest of the ingredients were onions, garlic, butter beans, smoked streaky bacon, mushrooms (bought some normal, inoffensive close cup jobs, but enhanced these with some dried ceps) and leeks. I usually flavour a dish like this with tarragon but I went to the shop and it was tarra-gone, so I just used some thyme and black pepper. Served it with wild rice, for a change (as opposed to mash/baked spuds/bread). Was pretty good, though I say it myself.
I find the trick with any dish like this that involves bacon, or any really fatty meat, is to fry it first. This ensures it can crisp up nicely (bacon will never be crispy if you throw it raw into a pan full of soggy onions, mushrooms and whatever), and the fat that comes out of it can then be used for frying the rest of the ingredients. So I didn't need to add any extra fat for frying the chicken portions or the onions, and just added some butter when cooking the mushrooms because what's the point of mushrooms without butter?
Pizza tonight, nothing I've not described before so I won't bother.
Last night I cooked a big load of chicken casserole - nice big chicken thigh pieces, browned in the pan first with seasoned flour on them, with a sauce of white wine, cream, chicken stock and mushroom stock. The rest of the ingredients were onions, garlic, butter beans, smoked streaky bacon, mushrooms (bought some normal, inoffensive close cup jobs, but enhanced these with some dried ceps) and leeks. I usually flavour a dish like this with tarragon but I went to the shop and it was tarra-gone, so I just used some thyme and black pepper. Served it with wild rice, for a change (as opposed to mash/baked spuds/bread). Was pretty good, though I say it myself.
I find the trick with any dish like this that involves bacon, or any really fatty meat, is to fry it first. This ensures it can crisp up nicely (bacon will never be crispy if you throw it raw into a pan full of soggy onions, mushrooms and whatever), and the fat that comes out of it can then be used for frying the rest of the ingredients. So I didn't need to add any extra fat for frying the chicken portions or the onions, and just added some butter when cooking the mushrooms because what's the point of mushrooms without butter?
Pizza tonight, nothing I've not described before so I won't bother.