Hits and Misses

I seem to have lost my mojo since living in Chile. There I grappled with poorly equipped kitchens, the lack of tools and ingredients I was used to, not to mention having to learn how to measure things from my recipe sources (usually in the silly American system) using metric system containers. 100 grams of butter? I had no idea what that even looked like. Plus, the ovens range from 1-8. I am clueless there. Anyway, since moving back to New Orleans, where there are over 1100 restaurants, not to mention working in a restaurant, I did far less cooking than I have any time in my adult life. So I have lots of misses lately, perhaps I can just blame it on the recipes. On the flip side, there have been a number of hits.

This weekend, I was having a birthday party for my roomie. She's been talking for months about Coq au Riesling, an Alsatian twist on the French classic, so I thought that would be a good choice for our main dish. I found this recipe from Nigella Lawson but then I tweaked it a little, mostly because I was too lazy to walk ALL THE WAY over to the computer to re-consult my recipe but also because my chef boyfriend intervened and who am I to argue with his expertise?

Ingredients

* 1 cup bacon lardons
* 1 leek, finely sliced
* 12 skinless chicken thighs or 2 3/4 pounds thigh fillets
* 3 bay leaves
* 10 ounces oyster mushrooms torn into strips (4 cups)
* 1 bottle Riesling
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 to 2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill leaves
* Buttered noodles, optional

Heat the oil in a casserole or large wide pan and fry the lardons until crisp.

Add the sliced leeks and soften them with the lardons for a minute or so.

Tip in the chicken thighs, bay leaves, torn mushrooms and wine.

Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, cover the pan and simmer gently for an hour. Like all stews this tastes its mellowest best if you let it get cold and then reheat the next day. But it's no hardship to eat straight off. Whichever, serve sprinkled with dill and with some buttered noodles, if using.

Two nights before the party, Ben told me to "saute no more than half my aromatics," so I cooked down half of the leeks and added a couple carrots too. I couldn't find that darn bulb of garlic but I would have! I added the wine and let that cook a few minutes, turned it off, chilled and put my chicken thighs in the marinate overnight.

I DID flour and brown my chicken, although Nigella doesn't and while I think that gave it a deeper layer of flavor, plus the flour thickens the sauce, it was a pain in the ass. I guess that's mostly since I made over 6 pounds of chicken. Then I continued on, layering the rest of my aromatics with chicken and more wine and some stock. This was done one night before the party because, as I have indicated, I'm lazy and wanted it out of the way. But also I think that these sort of stewed dishes taste best when they've had some time to thicken and mellow. It was indeed a hit and I have REALLY enjoyed it as leftovers for lunch. It would be great over potatoes or rice or with some garlic bread instead of the egg noodles. Next up, strawberry shortcake, both a hit AND a miss!