blanquette de poulet ( Chicken in white sauce)

One of my favorite dinner when I was at home in France was" mamie" chicken in white sauce. It was all our favorite and now it is my grand children favorite. If they plan to come for dinner and I ask them what they want they always say" chicken in white sauce" It can become a little boring.A" blanquette" is a stew made without browning the meat in butter so the sauce will stay white. But I cheat and always brown my meat.
Most of the time in France it is made with veal and there is nothing better than a "blanquette de veau ". It is a traditional french dish and it is delicious.
In SC it is not often that you can find any veal so I make" blanquette de poulet" instead.
Blanquette de poulet is very nice to cook for a person or two because it can be be frozen individually.

I usually use a full chicken and cut it myself , but I know a lot of person are skirmish about doing that. No problem, you can buy a cut up chicken. I do like to buy a full chicken because I feel it give a richer taste to the sauce   and I like  to eat the liver. But if you want to buy pieces I think the best is to buy thighs. Doing a little research  I find out that a lot of recipes used chicken fillets I think it is really the worst pieces of the chicken to use it is certainly delicious in other dish but for any recipes that involve "braising" it is a lot more tasty to use a full chicken or at least chicken thighs. In this recipe I have used chicken thighs because they were on sale at Bi lo.

INGREDIENTS

one onion
chicken stock to cover
1 cup white  wine
1 stalk celery
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig parsley
about 3 lbs cut chicken
2 carrots
2tbs flour
2 1/2 oz butter
4 1/2 oz fresh sliced mushrooms(if they are very small they could be kept full)
1 egg yolk
1 lemon juice
3 tbls heavy cream or as much as you want.
thyme and rosemary ( Tarragon is good too with chicken)
1 tbl butter and oil to" saute" chicken

Directions

In a big pot saute the chicken pieces in butter and oil, do not crowd.
do it by batches, a few pieces at the time.
Put aside.

In the same sauce pan" saute" all the vegetables but the mushrooms for about 5 minutes

n

add the glass of wine and heat it up for a few minutes .
add the chicken
Cover with the chicken stock.
Ad the thyme and the rosemary
Add salt and pepper and cook for about 40 min
.Check ounce and a while add chicken stock if needed

oops! need a little more stock  the chicken must be cover)
Strain the juice in a bowl. ..discarded every thing but the chicken and the diced carrots
In a sauce pan melt the butter add the flour, cook for a few minutes mixing till it is homogenise , add the cooking stock and cook stirring till it is thicken
In a bowl add the lemon juice and beat the egg yolk in it
Add the egg mixture to the white sauce. At that time it is very important not to overheat the sauce or the cream and egg will cuddle
add the cream to the white sauce and warm up the sauce

Saute the mushrooms. 
Add the white sauce, the small onions, the mushrooms,the diced carrots and the chicken back to the sauce
check again for salt and pepper.
heating for about 10 minutes till every thing is nice and hot.
Serve on plain steam rice with a crisp green salad on the side

Miam. miam. Bon Appetit!


Notes
When adding the eggs yolk add a little of the hot sauce in the egg mixture first and make sure the sauce is not to hot when you add it to the rest of the sauce  or you will cuddle the egg and it will make thread just like when you make Chinese fried rice, you could omit the egg completely but I think it make a sauce a little more unctuous.
Same thing when you add the cream the sauce must not be too hot or it will cuddle and it will still be good but it will look rather nasty.
This dish freeze very well but I do not add the cream till after I thaw and reheat the dish.


Printing recipe

Ingredients

 One onion
chicken stock to cover
1 cup wine
1 stalk celery
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig parsley
about 3 lbs cut chicken
2 carrots
2tbs flour
2 1/2 oz butter
4 1/2 oz fresh sliced mushrooms(if they are very small they could be kept full)
1 egg yolk
1 lemon juice
3 tbls heavy cream or as much as you want.
thyme and rosemary ( Tarragon is good too with chicken)
1 tbl butter and oil to" saute" chicken

Directions

In a big pot saute the chicken pieces in butter and oil, do not crowd.
do it by batches, a few pieces at the time.
Put aside.
In the same sauce pan" saute" all the vegetables but the mushrooms for about 5 minutes
add the glass of wine and heat it up for a few minutes .
add the chicken
Cover with the chicken stock.
Ad the thyme and the rosemary
Add salt and pepper and cook for about 40 min
.Check ounce and a while add chicken stock if needed
oops! need a little more stock the chicken must be cover)
Strain the juice in a bowl. ..discarded every thing but the chicken and the diced carrots
In a sauce pan melt the butter add the flour, cook for a few minutes mixing till it is homogenise , add the cooking stock and cook stirring till it is thicken
In a bowl add the lemon juice and beat the egg yolk in it
Add the egg mixture to the white sauce. At that time it is very important not to overheat the sauce or the cream and egg will cuddle
add the cream to the white sauce and warm up the sauce
Saute the mushrooms.
Add the white sauce, the small onions, the mushrooms,the diced carrots and the chicken back to the sauce
check again for salt and pepper.
heating for about 10 minutes till every thing is nice and hot.
Serve on plain steam rice with a crisp green salad on the side
Miam. miam. Bon Appetit!