Meeting 314 - Take One Grape - Shiraz
The Food
"I thought it was time for something spring-like for our supper. The first English baby vegetables are in the shops now so I was inspired to make a 'Fricassee of cornfed chicken with baby vegetables' (Roux Brothers - French Country Cooking).
I blanched the carrots, asparagus, peas, broad beans, baby turnips in boiling water and refreshed in cold water. I fried off some button mushrooms, courgettes and some smoked lardons. Meanwhile I seasoned and seared the lovely golden corn fed chicken supremes in butter to seal them, and roasted them for about 20 minutes with fresh tarragon and lemon juice.
For the sauce, I chopped shallots and mushroom stalks and cooked off with bay leaves, thyme and tarragon, white wine and chicken stock. I reduced it down to cook off the alcohol. I strained of the jus and, to finish, I added double cream and reduced down again. I poured the juice from the roasted chicken into the sauce.
To serve, I put the chicken in the sauce with the vegetable and lardons and bubbled for a few minutes to mix the flavours and accompanied it with new potatoes.
The pudding was lemon meringue roulade for which I have provided the recipe."
Lemon Meringue Roulade
Ingredients
5 egg whites
5ozs caster sugar
1 level teaspoon sifted cornflour
Icing sugar
Lemon Filling
1/2 pint double cream
6 tablespoon luxury lemon curd
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1. Whisk the egg whites till very stiff, then gradually whisk in the
sugar and finally the cornflour.
2. Spoon into a 13" x 9" swiss roll tin, lined with silicon parchment and spread evenly to the edges.
3. Bake in a pre-heated slow oven 150 degrees C (300 degrees F, or Gas Mark 2) for 45 minutes
then remove from the oven and leave to cool.
4. To make the filling whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks, then whisk in the lemon curd,
lemon rind and juice.
5. Turn the meringue onto a sheet of greaseproof or parchment (NOT cloth !)
dusted with icing sugar and peel away the lining paper.
6. Spread the filling over the meringue and roll up from a short (or long !) end.
7. Dust with sifted icing sugar