Disney Food – Rogue Woman Bakes

Chicken Francaise

March 4, 2020Leave a comment

A Dinner With The Prince

Here we are sitting down to dinner at the palace with our new found prince charming and what do we find in front of us? A bright flavorful dish called chicken francaise. A lightly breaded and pan fried chicken breast with a butter, white wine and fresh parsley sauce. You could serve it with pasta but I served that amazing chicken breast next to a serving of my delicious butter and garlic broccoli. My husband told me it was so good he wanted me to make that for his birthday. Nobody has ever said that to me before. I nearly cried guys.

Ingredients

Chicken

4 large skinless boneless chicken breast halves (2 pounds total)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 large eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Broccoli

2 heads broccoli
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place your chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin until about half an inch thick. (I regret leaving them this thick because it took longer then I though it would to cook them. I should’ve pounded them to a 1/4 inch)
Cut the stems off all your broccoli and cut it into small florets.
Mince all your garlic cloves.
Put your broccoli, garlic and 4 tablespoons of butter into a small pan and cover it. Turn your burner on low. Your broccoli will cook low and slow for about 15 minutes. If your pan gets too dry just add more butter. Truly there isn’t too much you could put in there.
Heat the oil in your pan to slightly below medium.
Dredge each chicken breast in your flour and then in your egg. Let the excess drip off then lay the piece of chicken away from you in the pan. That way the last part of the chicken to hit the oil in the pan doesn’t have a chance to splash you with oil.
Cook them two at a time in the pan for roughly 4 1/2 minutes on each side. I didn’t keep a timer on it, but you want them cooked until golden. The chicken inside should be moist and the outside crispy. (This is one of those moments I wish I had a meat thermometer. You want your chicken to be above 145 degrees inside.)
When all your chicken is cooked put it on a paper towel lined plate and tent the plate with aluminum foil. You want to keep the chicken warm.
Clean out your pan and then melt your butter. Once the butter stops foaming then put the wine, chicken stock, lemon juice and salt/pepper. Cook your sauce for about 8 minutes until your sauce reduces to about half a cup.
Add your chopped parsley to your sauce and cook for another minute.
Plate your chicken and broccoli and spoon sauce over dish.
Serve to very happy customers.

This is my first experience cooking a french dish and I was truly happy with the way it turned out. Anything with wine and butter in it speaks to me on a spiritual level. I feel like a dish like this would make Cinderella very happy and would make any of us feel like a wealthy princess. Its rich and bright and fragrant and makes my kitchen smell like a spring picnic.

A Tale of Books and Beef Ragout

February 25, 2020Leave a comment

The second half of my Disney inspired trip through France has landed me in one of my favorite movies from childhood Beauty and The Beast. Our favorite book loving princess lives in a small town in late 18th century France. This as it turns out is an interesting time for French Food.

Fun Facts:

It was the beginning of something called Cuisine Bourgeoise. The type of cooking done in middle class homes during that time. The beginning of this trend in cooking began before the French Revolution in 1691. A chef named Francois Massailots “Le Nouveau Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeois” or The New Royal and Bourgeois Cook. It was a book that showed the middle class how to make some of the same dishes made in the royal court.
In 1746 another French chef under the Francois Menon published “La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise.” It was after that the cuisine bourgeoise became less about presenting royal cuisine to the middle class, and more about teaching them how to use the ingredients they can actually afford in delicious ways.

The Menu

So when it came to deciding what foods to try for a Beauty and The Beast menu I had a few options. I wanted to use the mentions of food that actually occur in the film, but also use affordable available ingredients in delicious ways like the middle class would’ve had to. So I wanted to start like all good days start with breakfast. In the beginning we see a lady in the market yelling about needing six eggs. So I was thinking some sort of plate of mini egg cups. Eggs, milk, chives, bacon and cheese all baked in the oven. An easy affordable farm stand breakfast. I also want to try and make french baguette. It’s a delicious crusty bread that I’ve never made before, but is a vehicle for many amazing flavors.

After the more home made items for breakfast we move into items with slightly more technique. Lumiere’s big ballad “Be Our Guest” where he puts on a tremendous food show with the kitchen staff mentions many items. We have cheese souffle, hot hors d’oeuvres, beef ragout, flambeed dessert and tea. Thanks Lumiere for all the options! So we are going to try a gruyere souffle which in itself is terrifying. There are trained pastry chefs that don’t do souffle, but we here in the Bottomless Chips kitchen are going to try. We are also going to do what’s called a palmier. A french pastry shaped like a butterfly. We are going to try and fill it with some sort of savory filling. Then we are going to do a beef ragout for our fancy dinner with a tarte tatin for dessert. Maybe pear or peach. Then if we are still up for baking I might do some soft of tea cake. Either chai or earl grey. Something that lends itself well to baking.

I’m excited to see what comes of our culinary trip through France. I hope to find success in all our food adventures in the coming days, but I could also just be a sad baker covered in flour and cheese and wine by the end of it. Wish us luck!

Bon Appetit!

Inspired by Cinderella

February 20, 2020Leave a comment

A look at Cinderella Through Food

The story of Cinderella is set roughly in late 17th century France. The sad look at a young rich girl who suffers the death of her mother and ends up becoming the kitchen maid in her new step mothers house. A closer look at the cuisine of that time showed me a couple of things.

Fun Facts

The first is that the 17th century saw the advancement of haute cuisine or high cuisine. A focus on ingredients and quality of food became more important then an abundance of food. There’s a record of a banquet held by Catherine De Medici that put somewhere near 66 roast birds on the table.
Catherine brought Florentine chefs to France and with them they brought not only technique the French cooks had not seen, but also the use of forks as a utensil. The Italians had been doing it for many years prior, but the French thought it was a silly way to eat.
This time also saw the publishing of La Varenne’s cookbook “Le Cuisinier Francois”. This is credited as the first truly french cookbook.
We also see a book published by Francois Massialot called “Le Cuisinier roial et bourgeois” that saw the first recipe for marinade in print in 1691.
A look at what the peasants of the time were eating told me they were eating seasonally and preserving what vegetables they could for the off season. Also if they were lucky to own a piece of land large enough to hold a cow on they had access to milk and cheese. The meat they butchered and ate was salted and cured to preserve it.

Making The Menu

What I would like to accomplish with the Cinderella inspired menu is something that starts off light and quick and moves into a heavier sit down meal. I want to try and bring the theme of high cuisine into a home cook kitchen in a way that teaches something about French cuisine without being intimidating. Which means I as a fellow home cook have to find some way to make it less intimidating first.

Breakfast will look something like a savory filled pastry or light egg dish. Then show case a couple different salad and sandwich options for lunch. I want to make them not only home cook friendly but family friendly. After that I want a heartier but still beautifully plated dinner. Something with fresh veg and a deliciously cooked protein. Possibly a chicken roulade of sorts. Something with cheese because who other then my seven year doesn’t like cheese?

Then a light dessert. The first chantilly cream was whipped into existence right about this time so possibly a cream puff. I had never made them until recently and was pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole process is. We can then turn that same dough we would use for that cream puff and make it into a savory cheesy snack. Something that could’ve been served at the ball where Cinderella wooed the prince for the first time.

We will do some Recipe Labs here in the Bottomless Chips kitchen and see what we can come up with. Successful recipes will be posted and I will definitely share what I learned from the failures as well. Every cooking experience teaches us something whether we succeed or not.