Classic French Recipe: Daube Provençale

 

daube: meat that is braised then stewed in wine (culinary)

Not to be mistaken for

‘C’est de la daube’: is slang for ‘it’s sh*t’, as in ‘it isn’t worth anything’

 I was going through my French cookery books looking for inspiration for a classic French stew recipe and found this one called ‘Daube Provençale’, which sounds promising not least because who doesn’t love Provence, right? It’s The destination of choice for British retirees and I don’t blame them one bit; it is bliss in every way, between the weather, the wine, the pines, the lavender, L’Occitane en Provence and the gorgeous river creeks you can spend days diving into.

The Daube Provençale is a beef stew that is marinated in cognac, olive oil, herbs and white wine for hours before being braised and then stewed in more wine and vegetables, and served with tagliatelle. I made it last May when the weather wasn’t cooperating and it was lovely, warming yet light enough to suit mid-seasons very nicely.

I don’t often think to eat stew with fresh pasta but it totally works, especially as the white wine marinade makes it into a lighter dish than red wine would have done. It is also, as with most stews, a very nice dish to do in the slow cooker.

Daube Provençale {Free Recipe Printable}

Serves 4; preparation: 15 mins; Marinade: 3 hrs; Cooking time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

800g braising beef
2 tomatoes
1 carrot
4 onions
2 garlic cloves
150g unsmoked bacon lardons
3 tbsp olive oil
100g black olives

Marinade

500 ml dry white wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small glass of cognac/brandy (liqueur or shot glass)
a handful of parsley, chopped
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper

Method

1. Prepare the marinade: pour the white wine in a large bowl, add salt and pepper, the cognac, bouquet garni, olive oil and the chopped parsley.

2. Cut the meat into large chunks, place them in the marinade and leave in the fridge for 3 hours

3. Peel the onions and garlic and finely chop; peel the tomatoes and remove the seeds before cutting them into quarters; peel also the carrot and cut it into round slices.

4. In a deep pan, heat the oil and fry the vegetables and lardons for a few minutes before adding the meat and pouring the marinade over it. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook on low heat for 3 hours.

5. Add the olives and bring back to the boil for a minute.

6. Serve with tagliatelle.

Bon appétit!

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A most versatile chicken stew recipe

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while, as it is one of my go-to, most used method for making chicken stew. It is my own take on a Chicken Forestière, which is just a fancy French term for chicken and mushroom stew. The cunning thing with the cooking is that once you know the basics, you can bend it to your will by using any vegetable you have lying about the kitchen. If you don’t have any mushrooms or bacon or herbs, it will still taste good. You can make the most basic recipe with chicken, onions and stock and it will be lovely, or you can turn it into a dinner party winner by adding all sorts of delicious things to enhance it, like using wild mushrooms for example. You can even change the stock to a tin of chopped tomatoes and you have turned it into a Spanish chicken stew. It is literally the most versatile recipe I know.

Note for slow-cooker lovers: the prep for this dish is a little bit more time-consuming than just putting everything in a slow cooker but only by about 25 minutes, and the result will be worth the extra effort. It is still pretty much fool-proof, unless you are known for being able to carbonize fried onions, in which case, slow cooker all the way my friend.

Note on the ingredients: all the ingredients which are there purely to make it tastier but will not drastically change the recipe if omitted are in italics.

Note for baby-led weaning: this recipe is suitable for blw, just cut the carrots into long sticks and omit the salt.

In which you only get a picture of the pot because it was all gone by the time I remembered to take a picture

Ingredients

• 1 kg of chicken: the cheaper cuts i.e. thighs and drumsticks. They’re much tastier than the breast anyway.
• 4 slices of smoked bacon, diced
• 75 mls dry sherry or white wine (use water if you don’t have any, but it’s ‘almost’ required)
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 350 g chestnut mushrooms
• Assorted root vegetables: carrots are the best, but otherwise courgettes, swede, celery, red peppers, etc
• 40 g plain flour
• 500 mls chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 100 mls single cream (this one is the most optional of all)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Season the chicken with salt & pepper. In a large flameproof dish (I use my Le Creuset but any deep casserole pot will do), heat the oil and a bit of butter to a fairly high heat and brown the chicken and bacon pieces on all sides. Transfer to a side dish.

2. Pour off any excess fat from the flameproof dish. Return it to the heat and brown the sediment. Pour in the sherry or wine and stir with a flat wooden spoon to deglaze. Pour the liquid over the chicken pieces and set aside.

3. Fry the onion with a knob of butter or a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil on a medium heat until they start to colour and soften. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently for 6-8 minutes or until their juices start to run.  Whilst this is happening, prepare the stock.

3.5 If you are going to go with a tomato base rather than the stock for a Spanish twist, ignore step 4 altogether, pour in a couple of tin cans of chopped tomatoes and a glass of water and head over to step 5)

4. Stir the flour into the onion and mushroom mix then remove from the heat. Gradually add the stock and stir well so the flour is completely blended in.

5. Add the reserved chicken, bacon and juices, return to the heat and stir to thicken. Add all your other ingredients (vegetables and herbs) and keep a medium heat. Once it starts to simmer, cover with the lid and leave to cook for at least one hour (one hour is sufficient, but I would recommend an hour and a half so the meat falls off the bone). It may feel like there is not enough liquid as it might not cover all the ingredients but don’t worry, the vegetables will generate their own moisture and add to the final sauce.

6. If you want a richer sauce, stir in the cream in the last 30 minutes. (not if you’ve put tomatoes though, that would be gross)

7. I would normally serve this stew with rice and baby corn but you can serve it with new potatoes, which you can add to the stew at the same time as the vegetables so they all cook together.