Poulet rôti et ses accompagnements : jus rôti, purée de pommes de terre, fleurets de broccoli, petits oignons glacés à brun.
Roast chicken with all the trimmings! Mashed potatoes, broccoli, and caramelized baby onions.
This will be our first assessment in a few weeks, so I’m sure I’ll have more to add later. We had to clean and truss the chicken again, sear it on all sides, and roast it in the oven for ten minutes on each side and then about twenty minutes on its back on a bed of mirepoix. Check the temp before you serve it! You want the chicken to be golden in color with a crispy skin. The mirepoix adds the flavor that you will need to make the jus. Not a sauce! No cream or thickeners; just the beautifully chicken flavored jus, reduced down to the consistency that you like. Make sure to strain and skim the jus so that you get all of the excess fat out. Pools of fat on the plate are not appealing!
We boiled the broccoli after trimming it into florets and scoring the base of the stem in order to insure even cooking. That doesn’t sound too complicated, but remember; we’re being asked to cook everything to the perfect point of doneness! (For those of you following along back in the U.S., that’s overcooked to you!) Refresh them in cold water when they’re done so that they retain their beautiful green color, and then just quickly reheat them when you’re ready to serve in a little of the cooking water with a dab of butter to make them shiny.
Baby onions? Peel them (if you soak them in hot water first, their skins come off extremely easily!), and then put them in a pan with water, butter, sugar, and a little salt. Toss a cartouche on the top and then cook them away until the liquid has pretty well evaporated and the butter and sugar have colored them a lovely caramel.
Mashed potatoes. “These are not like English mash. These are potatoes with finesse.”
You want to cook the potatoes until they’re thoroughly done, drain them and then quickly pass them through a chinoise or other fine strainer. Then you add some hot milk and some butter. Mix well. Add more butter. Then add more butter. Then, just for fun, add a little more butter! You also want to season the potatoes, but with salt only! No pepper!
Get your plate clean, heat it up, and serve!