I’ve always wondered what fricassée meant (I had to google “wiki fricassee” to find that. Try saying it out loud, it’s fun), and making this recipe meant I finally looked it up: poultry stew in gravy thickened with dairy. I’ve strayed a little from that definition in making this but I hope it’ll do.
I came to this recipe via Port Salut. It’s a cheese I’d almost forgotten about; until I was sent some to try along with some Jean Christophe Novelli recipes. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jean Christophe before and couldn’t wait to try these out. Essentially chicken, leeks and mushrooms sweated down with cream and cheese – what’s not to like? I substituted a few things based on my larder and came up with a wholesome and tasty one-pot dinner. The Port Salut was creamy and nutty, kinda like a Brie.
Personally speaking I’d put the breadcrumbs to one side and serve it with tagliatelle next time. I think it would be great all tangled up with some pasta.
Chicken, leek, mushroom and port salut fricassée (serves 2):
2 chicken breasts, diced
Pinch of paprika
10g butter
2 leeks, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
1 sprig of rosemary, leaves finely chopped
150g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
100ml white wine
200ml creme fraiche
100g Port Salut, thinly sliced
50g Port Salut, diced
50g wholemeal breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put a large casserole dish on a medium heat and a little oil.
Dust the chicken with paprika and season, then fry in the pan for a couple of minutes until coloured all over. Remove to one side.
Turn the heat down to low, melt the butter in the pan and add the leeks, rosemary and onion. Sweat gently for 5 – 10 minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, then crank up the heat.
Add the wine. After a minute of bubbling away stir in the creme fraiche, sliced Port Salut and put the chicken back in. When everything is melting together stir well and check for seasoning. Top with the breadcrumbs and diced cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until everything is bubbling and brown.
Jean-Christophe Novelli is being nothing less than his charming self. He’s opened his heart and his kitchen to you. So what do you ask him?
“What your recipe for perfect roast potatoes?”
How could I miss that opportunity? I admit I was a little surprised by his method. But I can’t ignore a new technique for roast potatoes!
It throws a lot of what I usually do out of the window. It’s very simple though: mix with seasonings, a quick flash-fry on the hob, then straight in the oven with no fat. Weird.
I was cooking a lovely sage butter-smeared roast chicken this weekend so I tried them (alongside a batch of regular roasties in case they disappointed!). And they were pretty good. Crunchy, tasty, and very potatoey – leaving the skins on and not diluting in water retains the potato flavour strongly. And very healthy, given there is no fat involved at all, and because the skins stay on many nutrients are kept there.
But make no mistake, while interesting and useful to know they are not classic roast potatoes to put alongside my Sunday lunch.
Jean-Christophe Novelli’s roast potatoes:
1 potato per person, diced to about 2cm pieces (skins left on)
A couple of fat cloves of garlic, squashed
A couple of rosemary sprigs
Pop the oven on to 220°C. Get your sturdiest baking tray on the hob heating up to very hot.
Toss the potatoes with the garlic and rosemary, adding some salt and pepper (you could add pretty much any seasoning you want here; curry powder, cumin, paprika etc.). Chuck them in the baking tray and get shaking and stirring. You’re looking to build up a slight crust on the outside which will make them kinda non-stick, as well as getting the cooking started quickly.
After 5 minutes of shaking and tossing, transfer the baking tray to the hot oven and bake for 45 minutes or until tender. Shake regularly to free any crusty bits.
Nothing teaches you more than sitting there in person watching a pro do what they do best. There’s far communicated more in the tiny details of their actions while they’re in the zone than they could ever write down and explain to you. I’m a hopeless golfer but the few pro tournaments I’ve been to have been fascinating, for observing how a professional sizes himself up, mentally rehearses and pivots their body. And I felt like this when I was up close with Jean-Christophe Novelli while he prepared a simple, rustic dish.
I was invited to Jean-Christophe’s cookery academy by the British Potato Council. He is fronting a campaign promoting the thousands of varieties of potato out there that go ignored. The Many Faces of Potatoes is a great site packed with recipes, nutrition, and most intriguingly the Master Spud competition. Devise a quick, easy and brilliant potato dish and you could be in a TV advert with J-CN himself. An unusual prize!
I was there with Ute, Uyen and Selina, who all seemed to possess amazing cameras. My cameraphone felt conspicuous. I’m fairly convinced I came across as a massive potato geek, but then if you call your blog “Roast Potato” you have to play the game I guess. First Jean-Christophe explained how potatoes important to his life growing up, and how they so easily formed the basis of almost every meal. He then went on to say how wonderful and delicious the ingredient could be when treated with a light hand. He pointed out that recipes for mashed potato containing 1kg of potato to 200g butter are bound to taste nice, but then where has the potato flavour gone! He took great pains to ask not to peel them, as precious nutrients are contained there. I have to admit I was surprised just how nutritious potatoes are. But that’s the point of the campaign -to raise the potato’s status beyond that of just a carb or starch in the meal.
We were then treated to a platter of different potato varieties to really show them off. There was steamed Anyas, bright-red Rudolphs, rustic Desiree and many more. My favourite was the Marabel made into a golden and fluffy mash. The taste was amazing, nutty and buttery yet prepared with only a touch of seasoning. Most shockingly of all this variety is exclusive to Asda!
Then Chef Novelli prepared this wonderful potato dish below. It’s sticky, warming, hearty and dead easy to prepare. I really recommend it for this time of year when it’s still chilly in the evening and lamb is dirt cheap. It celebrates all the ingredients in it and tastes absolutely beautiful.
After the cooking demonstration I pressed Jean-Christophe for his perfect roast potato recipe, which he gladly shared with me. It’s a little unconventional, so I will definitely be trying it out – and of course blogging it – very soon. Watch this space!
Make sure you give the Many Faces of Potatoes site a browse and find a few more varieties for your cupboard.
Thanks to Food Urchin for recommending me to go in his absence!
Heat a little oil in a large lidded casserole dish. Season the lamb all over and quickly sear. Put the lid back on the casserole while it sears to retain heat and contain moisture.
While the lamb sears finely slice the celeriac, onion and potato. Jean-Christophe used a mandoline, but in the spirit of Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals I used a food processor for speed and consistency. Add these to the pan along with the herbs and stir well to allow the flavours to mingle. Again, pop the lid back on.
Squash and peel the garlic and add that to the pan as well. After a minute or two, add enough chicken stock to the pan to barely cover everything. You want enough to be soaked up a little, not to dilute what’s already there. Lid back on and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
The veg should be knife-tender by now. Use a fish slice to lift off a chunk of the stew, poke the whole cheddar block (don’t bother slicing or grating) in and let the stew drop back on top of it. Let the stew cook for another 5 minutes and check for seasoning. Serve a big scoop of it with some green veg on the side.
*A low fat cheddar is preferable as the oils should remain contained within the cheese and not split in the casserole.
