Main Course: Poulet Au Champagne

i am finally sitting down after having one of the Best meals i've prepared/eaten in a long time. As mentioned in the last post, i have decided to open up one of our vintage cookbook's (Esquire: Cookbook 1955) and prepare one meal a week from it. i promised that if it turned out to our liking i would share the recipe. As of recent, we have began working on a weekly menu - in an effort to keep the groceries to a minimum, and so we are not wasting food (i'll post a sample menu soon) every week - this week we added Chicken to our menu, and decided upon a recipe titled, "Poulet Au Champagne" (otherwise known as: Chicken and Champagne) from the "Carlton House, NYC".

Hope you enjoy the recipe:

Step 1: This is all you'll need: 1 Whole Chicken cut into pieces, 1/4 lb butter (i used Goats milk butter), 1 Clove Garlic in Skin, Salt/Pepper, 1 Bottle of Champagne

Step 2: Melt Butter in Skillet with garlic (with skin on) and add pieces browning both sides (6-8 minutes total).

Step 3: Transfer Chicken to plate leaving legs to cook a bit longer in butter.

Step 4: Transfer Chicken back to pan & add 1 Cup of Champagne & Cover tightly
for 5 minutes (exactly)

Step 5: Repeat Step 4 three times total allowing steam to fully
leave skillet Btw each covering... Remove Chicken and let sauce cook down
and pour over chicken when serving... ENJOY!

*All items used were Certified Organic

Venture: Cooking (with) Class...

i have been sitting in front of my computer trying to think of a new post - i was going back and forth with "Leftovers", and how important it is to finish off the food we prepare (I'll save that for a later post), and then thought about writing a post on keeping a weekly "Menu" (I'll save that one too) when the conversation of my Collections came up.

i keep several collections of vintage items including: Vintage Mixing Bowls, Vintage Pottery, Vintage McCoy Vases, and Vintage Cookbooks - of all my collections, some of the most priceless are my Cookbooks. Cookbooks are important to keep on hand, esp. for that one of a kind meal for dinner parties, or just a different take on the day to day items often prepared.

While eating my dinner, prepared from the week's leftover's, we began talking about the book featured above, "Esquire: Cook Book" which was published in 1955. The book contains some of the best recipe's from top restaurants of it's time including NYC, Paris, Italy, and New Orleans. the idea was suggested that we prepare one recipe a week, and then we took it a step further challenging each other to cook our way through the cookbook. So as we venture through this book i will be posting, periodically, recipe's from the vintage cookbook. i have always wanted to prepare a roasted Duck, or Rabbit Stew, it all sounds like so much fun. i will do my best to translate these recipe's into healthy meals and substitute where i can for Organic.

i am looking forward to sharing my book and challenge with you...
Cheers!