Normandy Chicken Fricassee (EP)

• 1 chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 breasts, halved), skin removed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup diced (1/2-inch) carrots
• 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch dice (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup diced (1/2 inch) celery
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (1 teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup dry white wine (such as Chardonnay) [I guess I used a Chenin Blanc Viognier]
• 1/2 cut water
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup frozen baby peas
• 2 tablespoons Calvados or applejack [I used the applejack I bought for the Duck and Apples dish]

Mise en place.

Browning the chicken pieces.

Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, parsley (what parsley?  hahah), thyme, and bay leaf.  Cover and cook for five minutes.  Add wind and water, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

I made my first beurre manie which is a paste one makes of equal parts flour and butter.  The combination of fat and butter is not a novel one to me since I've cooked a roux a handful of times, but it's sort of cool to do something for the first time.

Remove and reserve the chicken.  Add beurre manie, whisking steadily.  Add cream and peas and bring to a boil and then a 1 minute simmer.  Off heat, stir in the Calvados and taste for seasoning.

This was quite good.  As a classic French dish, it doesn't have much of a chance to really wow me, but this wasn't a bad dish at all.  It'd be nice to eat off a dinner plate, but we didn't have the luxury at that time.
The vegetable were a little less than tender, but overall, I executed this well.  It came together effortlessly after the prep.

Braised Duck with Apples and Calvados (HCE)

• 1 whole duck, 4 to 5 pounds, excess fat removed and cut into 8 serving pieces
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 2 pounds purple-topped turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound Granny Smith apples
• 1/4 cup Calvados
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Mise en place.  Calvados is a French apple brandy.

Browning duck.  This marks the first time I've ever worked with duck.

The thyme, bay leaf, garlic, Calvados, and some water are added to the duck and the pot is roasted for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Then the apples and turnips are added and the dish is basted every 10 minutes until the duck is done.

Even though Granny Smiths are the sturdiest apples (in terms of cooking), they disintegrated over the period of time that the dish was cooked.  I figure they should have spent less time in the oven than the turnips, but the dish was well-flavored.  I brought it to a holiday party and everyone who sampled the dish thought it was excellent.  Even though I couldn't spur each one of them to add a bit of the sauce to boost the effect.

I tried to save the duck fat but failed.  Rather than grabbing a mason jar, I chose to use a random recycled Goya jar.  I heard a pop as I poured the fat in and apparently that was the sound of the bottom the shirring off.  Oh well.  I will know better next time.