Clafouti

Recipe from Julia Child
Clafouti a la Liquer Cherry Flan with Cognac

Ingredients
3 cups pitted black cherries
1/4 cup cognac
1/3 granulated sugar

1 cup milk
1/3 granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour

1. Let pitted cherries stand for 1 hour in the cognac and sugar.
2. Blend the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour at high speed for 1 minute.
3. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of batter into pie plate and bake at 350 for 10 minutes until firm.
4. Spread the cherries over the bottom layer and pour remaining batter in top of cherries.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Sprinkle more sugar over the top before serving.

So this was very Fraunch. The texture is like flan. We also had some French wine, Vouvray. 

Chicken with Mustard

This weekend, I slaved and made a completely French dinner! C'est magnifique! Although, I realize actually a true french dinner would have had more courses... c'est la vie. Maybe next time.



Recipe from David Lebovitz
Chicken with Mustard Poulet a la Moutarde

Ingredients
1/2 cup, plus 3 Tbs Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
freshly ground pepper
3/4 tsp salt
4 chicken thighs, 4 chicken legs
1/2 small package smoked thick-cut bacon
1 small onion, peeled and finely diced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (3 or 4 sprigs)
1 cup white wine
1 Tbs grainy mustard
3 Tbs creme fraiche or heavy cream
parsley or chives for garnish

Preparation
1.Mix 1/2 cup of the Dijon mustard in a bowl with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Toss the chicken pieces in the mustard mixture, lifting the skin and rubbing some of it underneath.
2. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook bacon, stirring frequently, until it's cooked through and just starting to brown. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels, leaving about 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan and discarding the rest. Add the onion and cook about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Stir in the thyme, and let cook another few minutes, and then scrape the cooked onion into a bowl.
3. Add a little bit of olive oil to the pan, and place the chicken pieces in the pan in a single layer. (If they don't all fit, cook them in two batches.) Cook over medium-high heat, browning them well on one side, then flip them over and brown them on the other side. It's important to get the chicken nicely colored as the coloring -as well as the darkened bits on the bottom of the pan, called the fond- will give the finished sauce it's delicious flavor.
4. Remove the chicken pieces to a plate. Add wine to the hot pan, scraping the darkened bits off the bottom. Return the chicken to the pan along with the bacon and onions. Cover and cook over low to medium heat, turning the chicken in the sauce a few times during cooking, until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the 3 Tbs Dijon mustard, grainy mustard, and heavy cream. Sprinkle parsley over the top and serve.

The chicken came out really well, but I used quite a lot of dishes in making it. I was also making the clafouti for dessert...

Homemade Apple Pie

For the last weekend of September, I made this beautiful apple pie :) It took almost all day, but I think it was worth it. The dough, especially was good and I may use this crust for my pecan pie for Thanksgiving. We ate it with Bluebell homemade vanilla :D

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3 to 4 Tbs. ice water

For the filling:

• 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch
    thick
• 2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, make rows of cutouts in the dough, spacing them 1/2 inch apart and leaving a 1-inch border along the edges, to create a lattice appearance. Reserve the cutouts for decorating. Reroll the dough scraps to make more cutouts. Refrigerate the lattice top and cutouts for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, scatter the butter pieces on top, and gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.