Chicken Fricassée with Morel Mushrooms
A classic Burgundy dish, the perfect meal to experiment with morels if you haven't already!
Ingredients for 4 people:
- 1 whole chicken size 18, in 8 pieces
- 30g dried morels
- 100ml of Banyuls Rouge (or any port you may have at home)
- 2 tablets of chicken stock
- 100g of button mushrooms
- 6 small shallots
- 3 stems of tarragon
- 100ml of Dolin Vermouth Dry
- 500ml of white wine
- 20g of soft butter
- 20g of flour
- 500g thick cream
Preparation:
1. Place the morels in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 30 mins. Drain (but save the juices) and cut them in half.
2. Pour the Banyuls into a saucepan and reduce it by half. Add the morels and ½ stock cube. Cover with water, cook uncovered for 40 mins over medium heat. Make sure water doesn’t dry up: add more water if necessary.
3. While the morels are cooking, season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
Cut the button mushrooms and peeled shallots into thin strips.
4. Pour 1 cup of water into a large saucepan with the Vermouth, white wine and the water from the morels. Add the tarragon, shallots, button mushrooms, and remaining stock cubes. Heat over a high flame.
5. Put the chicken pieces, skin, and bones into the pan and let them cook for 12 mins uncovered. Make sure they are covered in liquid – add extra water if not.
6. Take out the pieces of white meat (breasts and wings – these will dry out if cooked too long) and leave the dark meat to cook for another 13 mins.
7. In a bowl, whisk the butter until softened, then the flour to make a “beurre manié”
8. Take the pieces of dark meat out of the pot and discard the skin and bones.
Strain the contents of the pot (to remove the mushrooms and shallots) and return the liquid to the pot.
9. Completely reduce the cooking liquid until it becomes almost a syrupy liquid, almost “dry”. This is mostly the fat left over which is the gravy and contains most of the flavour for the sauce.
10. Whisk in the “beurre manié”. Add the cream and cook for 5 mins, stirring constantly.
To finish: Put the pieces of chicken back into the pot. Turn over several times to coat.
Add the drained morel mushrooms and garnish with a few pieces of chopped tarragon.
Serve et voilà!
