Ten years ago today, the Sunday Herald generously published my first cookery article.
That Sunday morning, I rushed out to buy my first copy. I studied my musings on sunshine and spring ingredients, while shivering in the cold rain. The lesson? That while the month of May can be glorious, it still has the tricky habit of chilling you to the bone. The old saying "ne'er cast a clout till May be oot" rang in my ears.
Any reader patient enough to endure this column over the last decade will know I regard May as a bridging month, carrying us from cool April to the balminess of June. Despite being so near the end of May, there can be times when a gap lingers between our aspirations for the lighter meals of warm weather and the reality of our climate. Sometimes, even this late in the year, a drizzly lunchtime or a chilly evening's supper calls for a casserole.
A spring stew is a lighter, more elegant, refined cousin to its distant, gutsy, wintry relative. While winter's stews, like a cloak against icy winds, are redolent with root vegetables and reduced stock, a springtime stew should be perfumed with fresh herbs, bejewelled with young vegetables and finished with the refreshing lightness of crème fraîche.
White meat is the norm, so cooking times are relatively brief: chicken legs are ideal, and cheap, while veal offers a slightly more luxurious alternative for a comfort food which whispers of summer.
Blanquette of chicken, mushrooms and tarragon
Recipe serves 4
Ingredients
4 chicken legs
2 banana shallots, peeled, finely diced
10 button mushrooms quartered
2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely sliced
1 rounded dessertspoon of thyme leaves
250ml white chicken stock
150ml white wine
250ml double cream
salt and pepper to season
1 or 2 rounded spoons of crème fraîche
50g butter and a little vegetable oil
1 rounded dessertspoon of chopped tarragon
raw peas or blanched and shelled beans
orange juice
Method
1. Heat a wide casserole pan, add the vegetable oil, heat for one minute over a moderate heat then add the butter. Lay the legs out on a plate and season lightly all over with salt and pepper. When the butter starts to foam (do not let it brown), add the meat and fry over a low heat. It should seal and become pale white, but it should not brown.
2. Once sealed, remove from the pan and add the shallots, thyme, garlic and mushrooms plus a little more oil or butter if needed. Fry gently, stirring regularly so they do not brown, until the shallots have softened, for five or even 10 minutes, then return the chicken legs to the pan. Add the wine and boil to reduce by half then add the stock and cream. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 40 minutes or until the legs are cooked through.
3. Remove the meat to a plate for now and simmer the sauce rapidly to reduce to a sauce consistency, skimming impurities off with a ladle. Taste for seasoning then return the chicken, add the tarragon and crème fraîche.
To serve
Add some raw peas or blanched and shelled broad beans to the sauce for the last 10 minutes of cooking, and serve with some young carrots cooked in water with a pinch of sugar and orange juice and some new potatoes
Fricassee of veal, sherry and tomato
Recipe serves 4
Ingredients
800g of veal shoulder or breast, diced into one-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
50g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and diced finely
1 bouquet garni: stems of parsley, sprigs of thyme and rosemary and five black peppercorns, wrapped and tied in a leek leaf.
300ml white chicken stock (traditionally white veal stock)
1 tablespoon of plain flour
150ml sherry of your preference
200 ml double cream
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper to season
4 tomatoes
1 dessertspoon of chopped tarragon
Method
1. Heat a wide casserole pan and add the vegetable oil, heat for one minute over a moderate heat then add the butter. Lay the veal out on a plate and season lightly all over with salt and pepper. When the butter starts to foam (do not let it brown), add the veal and stir regularly over a low heat. It should seal and become pale white, but it should not brown. Continue cooking for a few minutes until it is set all over then add the onions and, if necessary, a little more oil. Stir the onions in to coat then add the flour, stirring once more. Continue frying gently for a further two minutes, remembering to stir frequently.
2. Add the sherry and bring to boil. Reduce by half then add the bouquet garni and the stock and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer over a very low heat for one hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
3. While it is cooking, blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for ten seconds then peel off the skins. Cut each into four, remove the seeds then cut the flesh into even dice, about one centimetre in size and set aside for now
4. Using a slotted spoon, lift out the veal and place on a clean tray or plate for the moment. Skim any fat from the surface of the liquid. If necessary, increase the heat under the pan in order to boil and reduce the cooking liquid so it slightly thickens. Add half the cream to the pot and reduce the heat.
5. Meanwhile, lightly whisk the rest of the cream with the egg yolks to make a liaison, this traditionally thickens and enriches the finished stew.
6. Turn off the heat under the pan. Return the veal to the sauce and swirl in the liaison. Do not boil again or the egg will scramble. Add the tomato and chopped tarragon, taste for seasoning then serve, perhaps with rice, new potatoes, or creamy mashed potato and with sugar snaps, boiled briefly and tossed into the stew itself.
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