Dear daughter,
Three years ago, I stumbled upon the blog of Mimi Thorisson,
a beautiful lady who threw caution to the wind and left urban Paris to
live in an old farmhouse in Medoc. There, in the quiet of small town France, she
spends her days taking care of her big family with her photographer husband Oddur.
In between, there is plenty of cooking. The blog, after all, is entitled
“Manger,” which means “eat” in French.
I remember immediately falling in love with Mimi and
everything about her utterly charming life—her idyllic home, her picturesque
dining table, the lush woods where she forages, the quaint markets she
frequents where everything is wonderfully fresh and where the butcher knows his
meat like a scientist, and her handsome children among a million other things.
Everyday she cooks a feast for her family and friends, and still looks
graceful, elegant, and perfect, and always remembers to have a glass of wine in
hand. Ah, French ladies. I told myself that when I have my own family, I will
be just like her—my family happy and fed, me with perfect hair and immaculate
clothes. One can dream.
And so shortly after I got married, I got myself a copy of
Mimi’s lovely book, “A Kitchen in France.” The moment I got home, I proceeded
to read the cookbook as I would Jane Austen. Its every word inspires—to cook up
a storm in the kitchen and to move to France. While it is unfortunate that a
trip to France must come later, nothing stopped me from right away satiating my
appetite for French food.
I intend to explore as many recipes in “A Kitchen in France”
as I possibly can, and will of course let you know what I think of each one. To
begin, let me tell you about the lunch I made for your dad just yesterday.
Here is the recipe, from page 46 of Mimi’s book:
Roast Chicken with Crème Fraiche And Herbs
Ingredients
1¼ cups crème fraiche
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
A large bunch of fresh parsley, leaves removed and chopped
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole chicken
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180-degree Celsius.
In a small bowl, mix the crème fraiche, garlic, shallot,
parsley, and thyme. Season with fine sea salt and pepper. Spoon half of the
mixture inside the cavity of the chicken. Truss the chicken securely with
kitchen twine. Rub the remaining cream in a thick layer all over the chicken
(make sure to rub under the thighs and wings. Sprinkle the coarse salt over the
chicken and put it in a roasting pan.
Roast the chicken until golden brown and cooked through (the
juices should run clear, not pink, when you prick the thigh with a knife),
about 1 hour. Check the pan halfway through the cooking and add a few
tablespoons water, or more, if needed, if the bottom of the pan has started to
dry out.
Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Serves 4
I am proud to say that as dilettante as I am in the kitchen,
I was able to follow the recipe with only a few alterations:
1.
As crème fraiche was not available at the
grocery, I prepared a substitute of sour cream mixed with a bit of heavy cream.
2.
As shallot was unavailable, I had to use an
onion. I am not very proud of this as nothing can really quite stand in for the
singular flavor of shallots.
3.
With your dad’s advice, I extended the chicken’s
time in the oven to 1 hour and 30 minutes. The chicken came out golden brown and perfectly cooked—moist, herby, and gloriously fragrant.
While the chicken cooked in the oven I prepared some pasta
to go with it. Penne tossed in olive oil cooked with garlic, and mixed with
basil leaves, olives, tomatoes, and grated parmesan. And then there was a cold
glass of chardonnay for me and coke and whiskey for your dad.
I prepared lunch for around two and a half hours and we
finished everything in less than thirty minutes. Your dad said lunch was
wonderful, but then again, as you would know, he eats everything.
Love,
Mom
