2012-04-24

Delusions of Grandeur and Fancy French Food

The other day, during one of my common delusions of grandeur in which I'm convinced I'm somehow the offspring of Grace Kelly and Martha Stewart, I decided to whip up some fancy french food.

Never one to let an inadequacy in expertise inhibit my ambition, I set about making coq au vin. And I'm not talking about the easy chicken-in-a-crockpot-with-a-cup-of-wine sort of coq au vin.  No siree Bob.  I used an authentic recipe which required marinating a whole chicken in an entire bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with a bouquet garni before poaching it slowing in said wine with celery, onions and carrots (which are only for flavouring and are tossed before eating, s'il vous plait).   And then there was the bacon lardons and mushroom caps to fry, and the pearl onions that needed to be peeled and braised (with a covering of parchment paper). Yes indeed, it was an appropriately snobby french recipe.  

So I tied on an apron and I julienned,  I sautĂ©ed,  I braised, and I deglazed.  I worked all friggin day at my coq au vin.  

And how did it turn out?  Well. . . once you got past the purple chicken, it didn't taste half bad.  But the thing was, despite it being fancy french food and my Grace Kelly/Martha Stewart delusions, I just could not get past the fact I had wasted an entire bottle of perfectly good wine.  

18 comments:

  1. You shoulda just drank the wine and gotten some Popeye's. But I do admire your effort kiddo.

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    1. Popeyes? Is that Texan for pie-eyed? ;)

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    2. No, no, no young one. Popeye's has great cajun spiced fried chicken.

      It pairs famously with Ripple.

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    3. Michele! You explain away one term, and then leave me with a new one to puzzle over! Do we need to create a Texan/Canadian dictionary? Please tell me, WTFrig is Ripples?!

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  2. French cusine to me is Quebec's national dish - POUTINE!!!!

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    1. Poutine is awesome, but can you picture Grace Kelly chowing down on a bowl of it - cheese strings hanging from her mouth and gravy dripping off her chin? :)

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  3. My consideration of how I would like it might depend on the amount of wine in it. The purpler (?) the chicken, the better.

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    1. Yes. More purpler is much gooder. ;)

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  4. Purple, the color of royalty! I'm sure it was grand.

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    1. It was good, but the effort far outweighed the results.

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  5. Does wine go with Mary Brown's?
    what am I saying....wine goes with everything!

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    1. I need to crawl out from under my rock more often as I've never heard of Mary Brown's before.

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  6. Mon Dieu, so much work. Kudos to you. Sounds delicious even if you did use/waste a whole bottle of wine.

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    1. I excel at over-achieving. It's a character flaw, I'm afraid.

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  7. Stick to French sandwiches in future, prepared in a trice...http://seasonjunkie.com/french-sandwiches/!

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    1. Mmmm....a french baguette and jambon. And some cheese? It sounds yummy - and simple.

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  8. I, too, have moments where I believe I am Grace Kelly.

    Wasn't she gorgeous?

    I would eat that purple chicken...

    Pearl

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  9. Mmm, sounds good. I would eat it, purple and all.

    Oh and to answer your question on my blog, no, I don't think he'll be back for New Years.

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