A word from Eric Bernard, manager of "Le V" restaurant at the Hôtel George V, Paris, Meilleur Sommelier d'Europe 1994.

"Fatted chickens and capons are rich and tender, features that the wine has to complement. We should therefore be looking at very supple wines with fine, ripe tannins, qualities that are mainly down to the maturing method and the terroir. That means that a Saint-Emilion is perfect. I would have a predilection for the great ripe years (1985, 1983) or more recent vintages with low acidity (1992). With a basic duo like this, the sauces can reach their full expression; we should not hesitate to go as far as possible, which means bringing out aromas like truffles, for instance. As an accompaniment, the "classics", such as mushrooms or potatoes with penny-bun mushrooms, would be recommended. But, here again, imagination will be rewarded – try chestnuts au gratin, roast potatoes, and so on. Only one thing is unsuitable: mashed potatoes; though they are very good, they do tend to clog up the tastebuds and spoil the taste of the wine."

 

POULARDE DE BRESSE
EN VESSIE FACON ETEOCLE

by Gilles Etéocle of La Poularde restaurant, Montrond-les-Bains (Haute-Loire)

For 4 to 6 persons

Fatted chicken ("poularde"), 1.5 kg, cleaned and trussed

Stuff the chicken with its own liver, cut into little cubes, and truss it. Take a pig's bladder, moistened in warm water, and put in rock salt, freshly ground pepper, truffle juice and a glass of port. Insert the chicken. Leave to marinate for 24 hours. Then bring some chicken stock almost to the boil and plunge the bladder into it. Leave to cook for 1h 10 min. Then take out the bladder and cook it for 30 min in its own juices.

Make the sauce: 10 cl port, 10 cl truffle juice

Add about _ litre of the chicken stock used for cooking, a spoonful of tomato purée and reduce by _ of the volume.

Season with salt and pepper.

Open the bladder, joint the chicken and add chopped truffles.

Make a butter sauce to be served in a sauce boat.

Serve with braised chestnuts and sautéed potatoes and add a little freshness with steamed seasonal vegetables.

Enjoy with a Saint-Emilion 1985

...

 

PIGEONS AUX GIROLLES

by Ghislaine Arabian, restaurateur, Paris

Serves 4

4 pigeons, salt, pepper, 10 cl single cream

Garnish : 250 g chanterelles, 300 g spinach, 40 g butter, salt and pepper

Sauce : 150 g button mushrooms, 1 shallot, 15 g butter, 10 cl chicken stock, 5 cl single cream, 20 g butter

Finishing touch : Light, whipped cream made with 15 cl single cream, salt and pepper

Preparation and cooking time : a good hour

Preparing the pigeons and cooking the drumsticks

Heat the oven to a very high temperature.

Prepare the pigeons by removing the legs. Put the legs in a dish with salt and pepper and a few knobs of butter, put them in the oven and roast for 5 to 6 minutes until pink. Remove from the oven and put to one side. Reduce the oven temperature and put the legs back in to keep warm.

Preparing and cooking the sauce

Chop the shallot finely. Cut off the soiled part of the mushroom stalks, clean the mushrooms and slice them. In a casserole on a medium-to-low heat, warm 20 g butter, add the shallot and let it soften gently without colouring. Add the button mushrooms and wet with the chicken stock. Let it boil gently and reduce by a third.

Then add 5 cl of single cream, blend in and leave to reduce gently by another third.

Put into the blender and liquidize until a smooth purée is obtained. Put this back into the pan to keep warm.

Preparing and cooking the vegetables and the pigeon supremes.

Prepare the chanterelles by cutting off the soiled part of the stalks and washing the mushrooms thoroughly to get rid of any sand or bits of twigs. Dry them with a towel.

Remove the stalks from the spinach, wash carefully and drain.

Put a frying pan onto a high heat, melt 20 g butter and add the salted and peppered chanterelles and sauté them until there is no more juice and they have closed and turned very slightly golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a plate and put into the oven to keep warm.

In a saucepan on medium heat, warm 25 g butter, add the spinach, salt and pepper, and let them stew down for a few minutes.

Put the pigeon supremes into the warm oven and cook for 6 to 7 minutes.

All the above can be done more or less at the same time.

Finishing the sauce

Put the mushroom purée back on the heat.

Whip 15 cl chilled single cream in a very cold basin (it whips up more easily)

Fold in the mushroom purée and check the seasoning. Leave on a low heat.

Presentation

On 4 warmed plates, put the chanterelles and spinach on one side and lay the drumsticks on top.

Spread the sauce over the centre of the plate and add the supremes, split into two. Serve very hot.

 

 

 

A word from Jacques Puisais, President of the French Taste Institute

"Saint-Emilion with fish? Why not? You can make any dish you like, as long as it goes well with the wine…
Of course, the great classic would be lamprey. Lamprey needs wines with ripe, smooth tannins. So, wines from gravelly soils will need to have had time to age, but with wines from sandier soils, we can choose a more recent vintage.

Generally speaking, the way the dish is cooked must correspond to the wine that will be served; to put it more simply, cook with the wine you will be drinking! This approach does require care when associating wine with food, but it can pay off. For instance, with scallops, deglaze the pan at the last moment with a vin de sable, fine and delicate. Turbots and other strong flavoured fish cooked in the oven go well with a wine with more body. Cook pike in a smooth wine, not forgetting to add a bayleaf to bring out a fuller flavour. And if you are already a dab hand with lamprey, you will easily be able to use your skills with other fish in sauce, such as monkfish and skate. A special mention should be made of sole cooked in wine (a fine wine, naturally!).

Saint-Emilion has such a wide range of flavours and qualities that it can be used in a multitude of ways with fish. The thing to remember is to introduce the wine to the food well before it reaches the table!"

FILETS DE BAR AU SAINT-EMILION

by Pierre Quilain of the Hostellerie de Plaisance, Saint-Emilion

Preparation time: 50 minutes

Serves 4

2 x 300 g fillets of bass

300 g button mushrooms

3 large shallots, 2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

150 g butter

1 dessertspoon cream

Seasoning and chives

40 cl young Saint-Emilion

I – Preparing the sauce

Finely slice the shallots, remove the stalks from the mushrooms, peel and slice.

Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan, add the finely sliced shallots and the sliced mushroom stalks, along with the two cloves of garlic. Leave to sweat then add the Saint-Emilion.

Leave to reduce by a good third.

II – Place the bass fillets in a buttered dish, season and cook in a hot oven.

III – Rinse the mushroom tops in a colander so as not to get them too wet, then slice them thinly. Sauté them quickly in the frying pan.

IV – Put the mushrooms into a dish and place the bass fillets on top.

V – Put the reduced red wine sauce into the frying pan in which the mushrooms were cooked, leave to reduce a few minutes more, then return to the saucepan. Add the knobs of butter one at a time and whisk.

Once the sauce has thickened and is shiny, remove from heat, add some cream and check the seasoning.

VI – Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle with chives.

...