What's in Season?... Turnips

When I flipped to the February drawing for my 2016 "Twelve Months of Fresh Food" calendar I was surprised to see turnips.  

It is not that turnips are not in season right now...they are in fact in season in their capacity as a winter storage vegetable.  My surprise was mostly because in recent years I have come to think of them more often as a young, tender root from the farmers' market during the cooler early and waning days of the growing season.  In that capacity, they are delicious raw (in a salad)......or lightly braised in butter (as a vegetable side). 

                                   

But it was nice to be reminded of them as one of the wonderful root vegetables that make up the winter pantry.  In that role, their pleasantly bitter edge can add depth and complexity to winter soups and stews as well as vegetable purées, gratins and side dishes.   I was glad to have a reason to purchase some this month (we all get into our own little culinary ruts sometimes...). 

Like most storage vegetables, you have to be careful when you purchase them to make sure you don't get a hold of a specimen that has been improperly stored...or stored too long.  Storage turnips will almost always look a bit scuffed or marred...but they shouldn't be deeply scratched or gouged (they will decay rapidly where the skin has been broken).  They should be firm and heavy for their size as well.  If they feel light they will be dry and pithy or spongy.  Alice Waters in her book Chez Panisse Vegetables mentions that you should avoid storage turnips that have begun to re-sprout as they will have become woody.  I would imagine that they would also be excessively bitter at this stage. When you get them home, store them in an open plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. 

For my winter turnip recipe I'm sharing a Spicy Moroccan Roasted Chicken dish.  The recipe is an adaptation of a Cornish Hen recipe that I have been making (and teaching) for years.  

I had a couple of reasons for changing it.  For one thing, I like Cornish Hens...but I love chicken thighs.  But more importantly, the chicken thigh version is a bit more streamlined...and my goal in posting this recipe is to encourage people to try turnips.  Having to truss, baste, carve, etc. might put people off.  I am including the adjustments for the Cornish Hen version in the notes at the bottom of the recipe though, for those who want to try it. 

In addition to chicken thighs, turnips and a lively blend of Moroccan spices (cumin, coriander, caraway, paprika and cayenne), this dish includes sweet winter squash and cipollini onions—both of which temper the heat of the spices...and any bitterness in the turnips...nicely.  I add more sweetness by serving it with a cinnamon scented couscous studded with golden raisins.  If you are in the mood for a lighter meal, a fluff of arugula dressed with lemon and olive oil would make a great side too.  If you have never liked...or never tried...turnips, you should give them a chance in this recipe.  They add great flavor...without being overpowering.

Once you've tried the turnips in this dish, you will probably want to try them in other ways.  You might sample them in a hearty and traditional Guinness stew...perfect for St. Patrick's Day (which is just around the corner)...or in a rich and creamy gratin with sweet potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes.   Whether you try these...or some other....recipes, I think you will soon find that there are many ways to prepare this oft neglected vegetable of the winter months.

Moroccan-Spiced Chicken with Butternut Squash & Turnips

1 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat (or use legs...or a mixture of thighs and legs)

About 2 t. kosher salt, divided

1 t. coriander seed
1 t. cumin seed

1/2 t. caraway seed

1 1/2 t. paprika

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

3 T. olive oil

Zest of one lemon

1 1/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks

3 medium turnips (about 10 to 12 oz.), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

6 oz. cipollini onions (8 to 12, depending on their size...look for 1 to 1 1/2 inch), peeled

Freshly ground black pepper

Coarsely chopped cilantro

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Plain yogurt to serve, optional

If time permits, salt the chicken 12 to 24 hours ahead.  Use up to 3/4 t. of kosher salt per pound of chicken...I find a teaspoon of kosher salt for 1 1/2 lbs of chicken to be about right.  Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 450°. 

Place the spices in a dry sauté pan over medium-high heat, shaking occasionally, until fragrant.  Transfer to a plate to cool.  Grind in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.  (If whole spices are not available, just use ground spices.)  Combine the toasted spices with the paprika and cayenne in a small bowl with the olive oil and lemon zest; set aside. 

In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with a teaspoon of kosher salt and pepper to taste.  Pepper the chicken and add it to the bowl.  Drizzle the spicy oil over all and toss until everything is well coated.  A wide rubber spatula or your hands work great for this.  Spread the vegetables and chicken (skin side up) on a lightly oiled rimmed sheet pan, distributing everything evenly.   

Place the pan in the oven and roast, stirring the vegetables and basting the chicken with the pan juices two or three times as they roast.  Because all ovens are different, you will have to watch carefully to make sure that 450° is the right temperature for your oven.  You want everything to be cooking at an active sizzle.  If after 20 minutes nothing is happening, increase the temperature by 25°...if things are snapping and popping aggressively...or smoking, reduce the oven temperature by 25°.  Continue to roast until the thighs are cooked through (juices should run clear) and the vegetables are tender and golden brown—about 45 minutes.

Transfer the chicken and vegetables to a platter or individual serving plates and scatter the cilantro over all.  Serve with lemon wedges and a dollop of yogurt on the side, if desired.  Accompany with cinnamon and raisin couscous...or steamed basmati rice...or, for a lighter meal, serve with arugula dressed with lemon and olive oil.  Serves 4

Variation for Cornish Hens:  Replace the chicken thighs with two 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb. Cornish Hens.  Reduce the oil in the spice mixture by a tablespoon and add a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of lemon juice to the mixture.  Season the hens (12 to 24 hours ahead, if time).  Stuff a quarter of a lemon in each of the cavities and tie the legs together with cotton twine.  Toss the vegetables with salt and pepper, add the Cornish hens to the bowl and pour the spice mixture over all, tossing to coat everything thoroughly.  Place the hens and vegetables in a shallow baking dish just large enough to hold the hens and vegetables in a snug single layer.  Start the birds in a 475° oven.  Roast, basting the birds occasionally with the pan juices.  After 20 minutes or so (when the birds have begun to take on a deep color), reduce the oven temperature to 400° and add 1/2 cup of water to the roasting pan.  Continue to roast until the birds are fully cooked (juices should run clear) and the vegetables are tender and golden—another 20 to 30 minutes.  (If at any time the pan juices become dry, add more water.)  Keep the vegetables warm while you rest the birds (at least 10 minutes).  Cut the birds in half and serve one half per person.

Printable Version

Cornish Hen variation...

Cinnamon Couscous with Golden Raisins

1 c. quick-cooking couscous

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. cinnamon

2 T. unsalted butter

1 1/4 c. boiling water

1/2 c. golden raisins, plumped in boiling water and drained well

Place the couscous in a medium sized bowl and toss with the salt and cinnamon.  Add the butter.  Pour the boiling water over, give it a stir and cover with plastic wrap.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Remove the plastic, add the raisins and fluff with a fork. Serve immediately.   Serves 4

(Couscous recipe adapted from One Good Dish by David Tanis)

Leftovers for lunch....

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie.  Warming....filling....the quintessential nostalgic dish for the cold months of the year.  Unfortunately it also has a reputation for being complicated and labor intensive to prepare.  And of course it can be this way.  But it doesn't have to be.  In its original incarnation, chicken pot pie...or any pot pie, for that matter...was probably just a leftover:  A clever way to reheat a rich stew by ladling it into a casserole, topping it with a pastry crust or a biscuit and placing it in a hot oven until the pastry or biscuit was golden and the stew bubbling hot.  So delicious in and of itself that today the by-product has become the goal.  When you consider it in terms of its origins, the process of preparing it becomes a little less daunting. 

The style of stew-like filling that most Americans associate with a chicken pot pie is similar to a classic French white stew—variously called a blanquette or a fricassée, depending on whether the vegetables and meat are tossed in hot butter (so as to sear without browning) or simply poached in hot broth...and on whether you thicken with a roux (a cooked mixture of flour and butter) or a liaison (a mixture of egg yolk and cream).  To avoid wading into the definition wars I'll simply state that the filling I make for my pot pie is a hybrid of all of these methods.  I poach the chicken...but if I had leftover roast chicken, I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a pot pie.  And I would most definitely add any leftover drippings or pan deglazings—a source of amazing flavor—even though their presence would produce a stew that was not so white.  As for the vegetables, I poach them....except for the mushrooms, which I sauté in butter simply because that's the way I like them.  To bind the stew together I thicken the chicken and vegetable poaching liquid with a roux.  This type of thickening is standard for any pot pie.  Since a pot pie is baked until the filling is bubbling you would never use a liaison as the thickener.  (Once a liaison of egg and cream is added to a stew,  the stew may not be boiled.  Doing so will produce a thin liquid filled with scrambled egg....).        

The filling I make nowadays for my chicken pot pie is really not too different from that of the first one I ever made.  My first chicken pot pie was from The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook—at the time, one of only two cookbooks that I owned.  The other was The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.  I was just beginning to learn how to cook and I had acquired a bee in my bonnet to make chicken pot pie.  Both books had a recipe, but for some reason the Good Housekeeping recipe looked more interesting to me.  Maybe because it was more complicated?  Incorporated both a bottom and top crust?  It's hard to say at this distance, but I remember that it did turn out to be quite a process.  It took me all of an afternoon.  More importantly though, I remember that it was one of the first labor intensive things I ever made that seemed totally worth it when I finally sat down and put some in my mouth. It was really delicious.  I couldn't believe I had made it. 

One of the things that had set the recipe apart was the inclusion of baby lima beans.  Before this pot pie, I don't think I had ever had them served in a way that I liked them.  But after that pot pie I was hooked.  If you have never had baby lima beans in cream sauce, you are missing out.  I can't imagine making my pot pie without them.  However,  if you have a childhood aversion to lima beans...and just can't bring yourself to try them...you can of course use peas instead. 

In fact, you can make chicken pot pie with any combination of vegetables that you like.  Carrots, onions of some kind, and celery are standard.  Peas are quite common.  Mushrooms too are typical, being a classic element in the aforementioned blanquettes and fricassées.  You will occasionally find potatoes, which are an obvious addition to a chicken stew.  Personally I would find just about any root vegetable to be a delicious addition.  Parsnips and celery root sound particularly appealing. 

Of course the more vegetables you add, the more complicated and drawn out the preparation of your stew becomes...depending on how you choose to cook each of the vegetables.  But if you do a little planning and advance preparation, even a stew with a complicated mix of vegetables can be prepared without too much stress.  As with any complicated recipe, breaking it down into its components is the key to success.  This is probably what made the process so difficult for me that long ago first time:  I didn't really have a handle on the big picture and how to break it up into manageable parts. 

For a pot pie, the components are the crust, the meat, the vegetables, and the thickened liquid.  The process consists of preparing the components and building the pie.  If you make the crust and poach the chicken the day before, the work that remains to ready the pie for the oven can be accomplished in an hour or less.   If you are using leftover chicken and vegetables (or leftover stew!), your work will be even more streamlined. 

Not only will the process itself be less stressful if you break it down into its parts, you will find that you are empowered to create your own version of a chicken pot pie, filled with a combination of vegetables that you love.  When making your pot pie, simply consider that for the size recipe I am posting, you will need two cups of cooked chicken, a generous four cups of cooked vegetables, two cups of sauce and about a half pound of pie dough...perhaps more if you have a very wide and shallow baking dish.  The choice of vegetables, ratio of cream to stock, inclusion of any herbs or other flavor elements is entirely up to you.    

Whatever vegetables you choose to include, when you are done you will have an unbelievably good,  rich and creamy stew—chock full of tender chicken and tasty vegetables—crowned with a flaky crust.  And no matter how much time and effort it took, I'm fairly certain you will think it was totally worth it.  

Chicken Pot Pie

2 c. rich chicken stock or good quality low-salt broth

Salt

1 c. (4 oz.) cipollini onions, peeled and quartered (halved if smaller)

1/3 lb. carrots (2 large), trimmed and peeled and cut on a short diagonal 1/4-inch thick (1 cup)

1 stalk celery, trimmed and cut on a short diagonal 1/4-inch thick (1/2 cup)

4 oz. crimini or white mushrooms, halved or quartered

3 T. butter, divided

2 c. (8 oz.) shredded cooked chicken

1 c. (5 oz.) frozen baby lima beans, thawed

3 T. flour

1/3 c. heavy cream

Freshly Ground Pepper

Chilled Pâte Brisée "Lid" (see below)

1 egg, well-beaten

Place 2 cups of chicken stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, season with salt to taste and add the onions, carrots and celery.  Simmer gently until the vegetables are tender—about 15 minutes.  Strain the broth into a two cup measure.  Add water (or more broth) to make 1 2/3 cup total liquid.  Place the drained vegetables in a bowl and set aside.  Return the broth to the saucepan and keep hot.

While the vegetables poach, melt a tablespoon of butter in a medium sauté pan.  When the butter is melted, increase the heat to medium-high.  Add the mushrooms and sauté until browned and tender.  Season with salt and add to the bowl with the onions, carrots and celery.  Add the lima beans and chicken to the bowl and toss to combine.

Return the pan the mushrooms were cooked in to the burner and melt another two tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  When the butter foams, whisk in the flour.  Cook stirring constantly for a few minutes—the roux will be bubbly and straw yellow.  Remove from the heat and pour in half of the hot broth, whisking constantly until smooth—it will thicken immediately.  Add the remaining broth and the cream.  Return to the heat and stir constantly until the sauce returns to a simmer.  Taste and season as desired with salt and pepper.  Scrape the sauce into the bowl of chicken and vegetables and fold in.  Taste and correct the seasoning.

Turn the chicken/vegetable mixture into a buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole. 

Place the prepared sheet of dough over the casserole.  Either fold the edges of the dough under and crimp the edge, or simply allow the dough to hang over the edge of the dish.  Brush the dough with a thin film of egg wash.  

If you have not already cut round vent holes in the dough, use the tip of a sharp knife to make several decorative slashes in the dough to serve as vents.  Place the pot pie on a baking sheet and place in a pre-heated 400° oven.  Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling—about 30 to 40 minutes.  Let the pie cool for a few moments before serving.  Serves 4.

Variations & Substitutions:

• Substitute 1 cup 1/2-inch diced onion for the cipollinis.  Instead of poaching them in the broth with the carrot and celery, soften them in the 2 T. of butter before adding the flour. 
• Use one large leek instead of the cipollinis.  Trim away the root and dark green.  Halve the leek lengthwise and cut each half cross-wise in 1/2-inch wide pieces.  Rinse in several changes of water to remove all soil and grit.  Poach with the carrots and celery.
• Replace the lima beans with peas.
• For the cooked chicken you may use any type of cooked chicken you like...leftovers, or freshly poached or roasted (even purchased "rotisserie")....white or dark meat (I prefer dark).  If you choose to poach your chicken, add a wedge of onion, a chunk of carrot, a short piece of celery, and a sprig or two of thyme to the poaching liquid—you may use water or broth for the poaching medium.  Use some of this strained chicken poaching liquid (essentially rich homemade stock) as the base liquid for the pie (for poaching the vegetables and making the sauce).  If you are using a roast chicken, deglaze the roasting pan with stock and add the deglazings to the vegetable poaching liquid.  If you are starting from raw chicken (as opposed to using leftovers or purchased) you will need about a pound of parts to produce the half pound of meat needed for the pie.
• If you like, add some fresh herbs—minced thyme or flat-leaf parsley—to the filling mixture.
• You may use any combination of cooked vegetables you like for this pot pie as long as you have four cups total of cooked vegetables.
• This recipe makes enough of the filling to fill a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and serves four.  Divide or multiply the recipe as you like to feed 2, 4, 6 or 8—adjusting the size of the baking dish accordingly.  The quantity of dough in the recipe is sufficient to cover a 13- by 9-inch baking dish (which will hold a double recipe of filling). 
• Working ahead:  You can of course make the filling, immediately turn it into the casserole, top it with the chilled crust and bake.  But you may also make the filling ahead.  To do so, pour the warm filling into the prepared casserole, cool and chill.  An hour or so before you are ready to bake the pie, pull it out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.  Top with the crust and bake as directed, extending the cooking time as necessary.  As before, bake until the crust is golden and the filling is hot and bubbling.  
• You may prepare individual pot pies.  Choose four oven proof casseroles with a capacity of 1 1/2 cups each.  Cut the dough in rounds with a diameter that is at least 1 inch larger than the opening of your chosen casseroles.  When making individual pies, cool the filling completely before topping with the crust (a warm filling would cause the butter in the crust to soften too much  in the amount of time it would take to  top all four pies).

Pâte Brisée:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (6 oz.)

1/2 t. salt

9 T. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices (4 1/2 oz.)

3 to 4 1/2 T. ice water

Combine the flour and the salt in a medium-sized bowl.  Rub the butter into the flour until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces. Drizzle 3 T. ice water over the flour/butter mixture.  Using your hands, fluff the mixture until it begins to clump, adding more water if necessary.  Turn the dough out onto a counter and form into a mound.  Using the heel of your hand, gradually push all of the dough away from you in short forward strokes, flattening out the lumps.  Continue until all of the dough is flat.  Using a bench scraper, scrape the dough off the counter, forming it into a single clump as you do.  Form the finished dough into a thick disk.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

To roll out, let dough warm up for a moment or two.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle, round, oval or square (depending on the shape of your casserole) that is about 1/8- to 1/6–inch thick.  Take the casserole you will be baking the pot pie in and invert it onto the dough.  Following the shape of the casserole, cut the dough so there will be a 1/2- to 1-inch overhang of dough all the way around.   Brush off the excess flour and transfer the dough to a baking sheet.  Chill until ready to build the pot pie (it should chill for at least 30 minutes).  If you like, you use a small smooth or fluted round cutter to cut out two or three vents in the sheet of dough.

Printable Recipe

Apple & Cipollini Relish

Occasionally I teach classes that are devoted to one vegetable (or fruit) or to a small group of vegetables (or fruits):  Asparagus in the Spring...  Eggplant, peppers & summer squash in late summer...  Corn & zucchini in the middle of summer...  And this past week, apples.  Three of the recipes from this particular class have already made an appearance on my blog: Celery Root & Apple Soup...Autumn Salad of Shaved Fennel, Apples & Belgian Endive...and a simple Pork Chop Baked with Apples & Mustard.   Today I thought I would share another:  Apple & Cipollini Onion Relish.

If you have never cooked with—or tasted—cipollini onions (pronounced chip-oh-lee-nee), you should definitely give them a try.  A small, flat, round Italian onion, they are beautiful to look at and they have a mild, sweet flavor—perfect for adding to a medley of roasted or sautéed vegetables or a braise or a stew.  Peeling them is a little bit time consuming, but it can always be done ahead.  Also, it's a fairly mindless activity and could be done while you are watching TV or chatting on the phone with a friend. 

This is not the first time I have shared a recipe that uses cipollinis.  A couple of years ago I posted a recipe for a favorite chicken dish that included some.  In that post I described a simple method for peeling that involves soaking the onions (after the root has been trimmed away) in a bowl of warm water.  This softens the skins so they can be easily removed.  In the relish recipe I'm sharing today, I'm giving a different method—one that calls for boiling the onions for a minute or two before peeling them.  The advantage of this is that it jump starts the cooking process.  The cipollinis in my relish recipe are cooked by braising in white wine.  My understanding is that the acidity of the unreduced wine firms up the cell structure of the onions...consequently they take much longer to cook than they would in plain water or broth.  Blanching them before the braising process helps to reduce the cooking time a bit.

If you have never made a savory relish before, I would like to encourage you to make this one—it's a great place to start.  Other than the peeling of the onions, it is an uncomplicated recipe with clean, straight forward and friendly flavors.  It's an easy relish to like (and was very well-received by my class).  It is especially delicious with pork and would also make a nice accompaniment to turkey during the upcoming holidays.   Even if you aren't ready to think about winter roasts or the holidays yet (I'm not), you'll find that this relish is delicious served with cheese as an appetizer or part of a cheese course.  Right now—while we are in the height of apple season...and the very beginning of cipollini season—would be a great time to give it a try.   

   

Apple & Cipollini Onion Relish

2 to 3 T. olive oil

3 small sprigs of rosemary

1 1/2 lb. cipollini onions—preferably about the size of a quarter in diameter

1 1/2 T. sugar (or to taste)

1 1/2 c. dry white wine

1 T. olive oil

1 1/2 T. unsalted butter

3 medium Braeburn apples (or other sweet tart variety that holds its shape when cooked), peeled, cored, cut into 12 wedges, wedges halved horizontally

1 to 2 T. picked thyme

2 T. Balsamic vinegar

Peel the Cipollini onions: Trim the root flush with each onion.  Drop them into a pot of rapidly boiling salted water.  Boil for 1 to 2 minutes.  Lift out and let drain and set aside until cool enough to handle.  Pull off the softened skins (you will probably need to use the tip of a paring knife).  Any onions that are very large should be halved crosswise (or quartered)—although cipollinis that have been halved or quartered will fall apart during the cooking process.  The onions can be peeled a day or two ahead.  Cool, wrap well and store in the refrigerator.

Put the olive oil and rosemary springs in a braiser or straight sided sauté pan (choose a pan large enough to hold the onions in a snug single layer) and warm over medium to medium high heat allowing the rosemary to infuse the oil for a minute or two.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are golden brown in spots—5 minutes or so. 

After the onions have begun to brown, add some salt and sprinkle the sugar over all.  Allow the sugar to caramelize, stirring, or gently shaking the pan, occasionally.  Add the wine and bring to a simmer.  

Cover and simmer (regulating the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer) until the onions are tender through—their color will change from white to a translucent beige.

While the onions cook, sauté the apples.  Heat the oil and butter in a large non-stick pan over high heat.  Add the apples.  Toss or stir the apples when the first side begins to brown.  As the apples begin to brown all over, reduce the heat to medium or medium high.  Add the thyme and some salt.  

Continue to toss and cook until tender, but not falling apart.  Set aside.  (Note: if your pan is not large enough to hold the apples in a snug single layer, sauté the apples in batches, dividing the oil and butter accordingly.)

When the onions are tender (this will take as long as an hour...to an hour and a half...to two hours, depending on the age of the onions and how long they are blanched during the peeling process), uncover the pan and increase the heat to boil and rapidly reduce the remaining wine to a syrup.  Add the Balsamic vinegar and reduce to a syrup.

Remove from the heat and fold in the apples, correcting the seasoning with salt, pepper, sugar and/or balsamic vinegar as necessary.  The compote tastes best if made ahead so the flavors have time to develop.    Reheat gently before serving.

Makes 3 cups—enough to serve 10 generously as an accompaniment to turkey or a pork roast.

Printable Recipe

Poulet à la Fermière

I taught a class last week called Chicken Basics. To illustrate the technique of braising I use a simple, one-dish recipe that I found several years ago in a "collectors' edition" issue of Gourmet Magazine that was entirely devoted to dining and cooking in Paris. I had forgotten how much I love this recipe. After having just a taste of it after my class, I was hungry for more and knew I had to make it again soon.

The name of the dish is Poulet à la Fermière which Gourmet translated as "Gratinéed Chicken in Cream Sauce". This is actually not a translation so much as it is a description of the dish—chicken in cream sauce, finished with a scattering of Gruyère cheese and gratinéed under the broiler. Poulet à la Fermière is more correctly translated as "The Farmer's Wife's Chicken". So the title of the dish is meant to convey the abundance of good ingredients available to a farmer's wife—chicken, cream, cheese, onions, carrots, baby potatoes and peas—basically the bounty of the farm...all in one dish.

For some reason, the original version of this recipe calls for frozen pearl onions. I am not fond of frozen pearl onions. If cooked until they are tender, they fall apart into mush. If maintaining their shape is important, they remain hard and are a bit sharp tasting. This time of year, fresh pearl onions are widely available, so there is no reason not to use them. Cipollini onions—little flat, sweet Italian onions—make a fine substitute.

If you do not want to take the time to peel any sort of tiny onion, sliced leeks would be an authentic and flavorful substitution.

As it turns out, neither pearl nor cipollini onions are that difficult to peel. Simply trim the ends and drop the onions in a bowl of hot tap water. After a few moments the thin, brittle skins will have begun to soften and will pull easily away with the help of a small paring knife. Spread the onions on a towel to dry them off after they have been peeled. To save time, they can be peeled ahead and stored (covered) in the refrigerator.

This recipe is intended to be simple and homey—the chicken is cooked and served on the bone and the sauce is left a little bit on the thin side. The final dish is delicious when made just this way and for a weeknight family meal, this is exactly how I serve it. But if you are entertaining and would like to make the final result a little more refined, there are easy ways to remedy both of these things.

If you would like to have a slightly thicker sauce, when the chicken and vegetables are finished cooking, simply remove the chicken to a platter and cover loosely to keep warm. Add the cream and peas as directed and simmer the cream sauce and vegetables together, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Don't overdo it. This shouldn't take more than a minute or two. It is much better to have a sauce that is just a bit thinner than you would like than to have a thick and gloppy one. When the sauce is thickened to your liking, return the chicken to the pan and proceed with the recipe.

If eating bone-in chicken covered in cream sauce strikes you as being rather inelegant, it is an easy thing to remove the bones after the chicken is fully cooked. To do this, when the chicken and vegetables are finished cooking, remove the pan from the heat and remove the chicken to a plate. When the chicken thighs are cool enough to handle, take one and turn it over so the skin-side is down. With a sharp boning knife make an incision from knuckle to knuckle along the length of the bone. Grab one end of the bone and twist slightly to release the meat from the bone. You may need to use the tip of your knife to release bits of meat that want to cling to the bone, but if the chicken is properly cooked you should be able to gently lift the bone up and away from the meat without too much trouble. Tuck any bits of meat that have come away back into the interior of the now boneless thigh and flip the thigh back over so it is skin side up. Repeat this operation until all of the thighs have been deboned.

To finish the dish, return the pan of vegetables to the heat and add the cream and peas. Bring to a simmer and reduce the sauce slightly. Taste and correct the seasoning. Nestle the boneless thighs back in amongst the vegetables and gently heat through. Scatter the cheese over all and gratinée as directed.

I like to serve this dish family-style—directly from the pan it was cooked in—but you could also transfer the vegetables and chicken in cream sauce to a broiler proof serving dish (such as a gratin) before topping with cheese and browning. However you choose to finish this dish, it makes a pretty great one dish meal. Although it doesn't need anything else, because it is slightly rich, a salad makes a nice accompaniment—which is how I served it to my book group friends this week. Altogether, it made an utterly satisfying meal for a cold and blustery February night.

Poulet à la Fermière

(Gratinéed Chicken in Cream Sauce)

2 lbs. chicken thighs (anywhere from 4 to 8 thighs)

1 to 2 T. unsalted butter
4 carrots (about 12 oz.), cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 1/2 cups pearl or cipollini onions, peeled (see note)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 lb. small (1 ½-inch) boiling potatoes (8 to 10), peeled & halved
2/3 cup heavy cream or crème fraiche
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyère

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat butter in a 12-inch ovenproof deep heavy sauté pan over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add the chicken, skin side down and brown all over, in batches if necessary to keep from crowding the pan. Regulate the heat as necessary to maintain an active sizzle. This will take about 15 minutes. Don't shortcut this step.  If the fat in the skin is not rendered as much as possible, the final dish will be greasy.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and pour off all but 1 T. of fat from the pan.

Add the carrots and onions to the pan and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables are beginning to brown, add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, until the liquid is reduced by about half, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, thyme and chicken, skin side up, along with any juices from the plate.

Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, nestling them down in the sauce, in between the chicken pieces, and salt & pepper to taste. Continue to simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through—20 to 25 minutes.

When the chicken and vegetables are cooked, preheat the broiler. Discard the thyme. Add the cream and the peas, swirling the pan to distribute the cream and peas throughout. Bring the cream to a simmer. Taste and correct the seasoning. Sprinkle the chicken and vegetables all over with the Gruyère and broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat until browned and bubbling—about 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Note: If using cipollini onions, halve or quarter them if they are large. Two medium leeks (white & pale green parts only) halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2-inch thick, may be substituted for the pearl or cipollini onions.

(Recipe adapted from Gourmet Magazine March 2001)


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