French Friday

I don't know how we spent a week in New Orleans and forgot to eat at a French restaurant ... especially since we were staying in the French Quarter.  Oh well, that just gives us another reason to go back sooner than later (not that we needed any more reasons).

After realizing this, I started to crave French food, so on Friday evening we made a French meal.  We started with onion soup:

French Onion Soup
(Serves 4)

2 T butter
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 large red onion, sliced
1 shallot, sliced
2 garlic clove, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp thyme
1 T brown sugar
3 cups beef stock

1 cup stout beer (we used Guinness)

Salt and Pepper
Slices of French bread to top
Shredded cheese to top (Gruyere is best)

In a large sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the onions, shallot, and garlic and cook until softened, but not brown.  Add the herbs, brown sugar, stock and beer.  Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes, covered.  Season with salt and pepper.  Ladle the soup into the dishes and cover with bread and shredded cheese.  Bake for about 3 minutes, then broil for about 1-2 minutes, until cheese melts and starts to brown.  Enjoy!

Next we had lemon, garlic chicken, brown rice with peas, and an herb and cheese souffle.

The lemon, garlic chicken was so good, and tasted great served over the rice.  This recipe calls for 20 cloves of garlic, and it wasn't too garlicky.  It was perfect!  The garlic gets soft and the flavour becomes more mild, so you can eat the entire cloves with the chicken and you don't really get garlic breath from them.

 Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Garlic

2.5 cups chicken stock

20 large cloves of garlic, peeled, left whole

2 T butter

1 T olive oil

8 chicken thighs

1 lemon, peeled and sliced

2 T flour

2/3 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper 

Bring the stock to a boil.  Add garlic and simmer 40 minutes.  Heat butter & oil in a frying pan and add the chicken.  Cook until browned on all sides.  Transfer chicken to an ovenproof dish (preheat oven to 375).  Strain the stock and reserve it.  Distribute the garlic and lemon slices over the chicken.  Add the flour to the fat that the chicken was cooked in, and cook 1 minute, while stirring.  Add the wine, stirring constantly.  Cook until thickened and season with salt and pepper.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and cook 40-45 minutes in the oven.

The herb souffle was full of finely grated Swiss cheese, fresh dill, rosemary and parsley.  It was a perfect side dish for this meal.

Herb Souffle

(Serves 4)

 

2 T butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

salt and pepper

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup chopped herbs (dill, parsley, chives, etc.)

1/2 cup grated cheese finely (old cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, Parmesan, etc.)

Grease 4 ramekins.  Tie a collar of parchment around the edge of the dish.

Melt the butter.  Add the flour to make a roux, and stir for 1 minute.  Add the milk and stir constantly, bringing sauce to a boil.  Simmer 2-3 minutes - it should be VERY thick.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir egg yolks, cheese, and herbs into the sauce.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff.  Stir in 1 T of whites into sauce.  Fold in remaining whites with a metal spoon.

Spoon mixture into dishes and bake in preheated oven, 400 F for 25 minutes.  Serve immediately.

All together now ...

Do you like French food? 
What did you cook over the weekend?