Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Maverick Life

Maverick Life

The Real Food Companion: Spoil yourself with this coq-au-vin and chocolate self-saucing pudding

The Real Food Companion: Spoil yourself with this coq-au-vin and chocolate self-saucing pudding
The Reading List
By The Reading List
22 Feb 2023
Facebook
0
Delicious and virtuous is the core mission of Matthew Evans’ new cookbook The Real Food Companion. In it, he teaches readers how to source, cook and eat real food – ethically.

Matthew Evans is a chef and food critic turned farmer-food activist, and his book celebrates resolute flavours, sourced and cooked with integrity, with 200 simple, delicious, unpretentious produce-driven recipes.

The book is the result of Evans’ four decades as a writer, chef and farmer, and multiple years of research. Erudite and enlightening, The Real Food Companion is akin to having the farmer, butcher, and baker just by your side. Here are two recipes.

***



Coq au vin 


The ‘vin’ in this dish is wine, and while most Anglicised recipes use red, I prefer white. According to The Art of Eating, an insightful quarterly publication from the US, the French actually use their local wine for this dish – so in Alsace, for example, it would be coq-au-Riesling. Australian Chardonnay and Semillon can be a bit too woody, so use lighter examples or Riesling.

Serves 4

  • 80 g (2¾ oz) butter

  • 1.8 kg (4 lb) free-range chicken, cut into 10 pieces (see note)

  • 80 g (2¾ oz) piece prosciutto or jamon or unsmoked bacon, cut into short strips

  • 2 large onions, diced

  • 2 garlic cloves, bruised

  • 2 tablespoons brandy

  • 1½ tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour

  • 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) dry white wine (or red, or a mix if you prefer)

  • 10 thyme sprigs

  • 300 ml (10½ fl oz) homemade chicken stock (see below) or water

  • 2 carrots, cut in half lengthways

  • 2 celery sticks, cut in half lengthways

  • 250 g (9 oz) small button mushrooms

  • 150 g (5½ oz) small onions (optional), peeled leaving the root intact


Heat half of the butter in a large deep frying pan over medium heat and fry the chicken pieces until well browned on all sides – you may need to do it in two batches. Add the prosciutto and cook for one–two minutes, then remove all the meat to a plate until needed.

In the same pan, fry the onion and garlic gently for about 10 minutes. Add the brandy and cook until the liquid has reduced. Stir in the flour and cook over medium heat for two minutes. Stir in the wine and thyme and continue to simmer for as long as it takes to reduce to about one-third of the original volume, then add the stock.

Return the chicken to the pan, placing the carrot and celery on one side under the liquid. The liquid should cover the chicken (add more water if necessary). Season with salt and freshly milled black pepper, to taste.

Return to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the breast meat from the pan and reserve.

Fry the mushrooms and onions in the remaining butter to moisten and let them colour. Drain on paper towel and leave to one side. After cooking the chicken a further 30 minutes, add the mushrooms, and onions if using. Keep covered and cook for about 30 minutes more, or until the meat is tender. Return the breast meat and prosciutto to the pan. Remove the thyme stalks, carrot and celery before serving.

Note: Jointing a chicken into ten pieces is an easily learnt art – get your butcher to show you how it is done.

***



Homemade chicken stock & poached chicken 


The quantities of water and chicken, as well as the cooking temperature, are all important aspects in this recipe. Bigger chickens will take longer to cook and will require more water; don’t take the chicken out of the pan for at least an hour after the heat is turned off, or the chicken may not be cooked through. You could also toss in a carrot and some parsley stalks if you have them.

Makes four litres (140 fl oz/16 cups)

  • 1 tablespoon salt

  • 2 leeks, white part only, rinsed

  • 1.6 kg (3 lb 8 oz) whole free-range chicken


Put four litres (140 fl oz/16 cups) water in a very large saucepan or stockpot over high heat. Add the leek and salt, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the whole chicken to the pan, bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Cover the pan, turn off the heat and let the chicken cool in the stock for one hour.

Strain the liquid off and use for stock. It should keep well in the refrigerator for one week, and stored in an airtight container in the freezer for three–four months. Store the poached chicken in the refrigerator for up to four days to use in soups, sandwiches, salads or for a light lunch.

Variation: I like to use two cobs of sweetcorn, the well washed stems and roots from a bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro) and the tops of a bunch of green spring onions (scallions) in this for a sweeter, more aromatic end result. You can also eat the corn, or use it in the stock to make soup.

Note: If you don’t have homemade chicken stock, I’d rather, in most recipes that call for it, use water rather than anything else. If you’ve got good, pure, fresh ingredients in a dish, a bought stock – with all its strange additives and not very natural flavour – will compromise these flavours. I often make a very quick stock from onion peelings, a bay leaf and thyme simmered for 20 minutes, rather than use bought stock.

***


Chocolate self-saucing pudding

 

I have tested various quantities of this recipe several times to come up with one I really liked. It’s bigger on cocoa than most, and might frighten the children. It has been suggested that one teaspoon instant coffee in the sauce mixture makes it even better.

Serves 6

  • 135 g (4¾ oz) self-raising flour

  • 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted if it’s lumpy), plus 3 tablespoons extra

  • 100 g (3½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

  • 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) full-cream (whole) milk

  • 1 egg, lightly beaten

  • 60 g (2¼ oz) butter, melted

  • 120 g (4¼ oz) dark brown sugar

  • 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) boiling water


Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF/Gas 4). Lightly grease a 1.5 litre (52 fl oz/6 cup) capacity casserole dish.

Mix the flour, cocoa and sugar in a bowl, then pour in the milk and egg and stir until it turns into a nicely even, wickedly dark batter. Fold in the butter and pour into the base of the dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the top, dust with the extra cocoa, then tip the boiling water over the top.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about 35 minutes (the sides should be bubbling). Cool just a little, before serving with cream or ice cream. DM/ ML

The Real Food Companion by Matthew Evans is published by Murdoch Books (R800). Visit The Reading List for South African book news – including recipes! – daily.

Categories:

Tags: