French Dinner With Friends

My friend Penny, from Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen and her husband are going to France in a few weeks.  They have the most wonderful itinerary planned.

 We invited them over for dinner last night and to celebrate their upcoming trip, I decided to cook a French meal.

We planned on dining outside on our deck, but shorty before they arrived, we had a huge rain and hail storm.  So we dined inside.

For appetizers I made Gougeres, or Cheese Puffs.  This recipe is from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook.  The are light and fluffy and melt in your mouth.

For dinner, I made Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms and Onions with white wine.  This is the country version of the fussier coq au vin, which uses red wine.  (recipe follows at end of post)

And for dessert another Ina Garten recipe.  Lemon Meringue Tart.

Chicken With Bacon, Mushrooms, Onions and White Wine

(serves 4)

1/2 pound bacon, diced

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered

6 garlic cloves, sliced

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup frozen small white onions, thawed

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium low heat until crisp.  With a slotted spoon transfer bacon to a plate.  Pour off most of the  bacon fat from pan.  Increase heat to medium. Sprinkle freshly cracked pepper onto chicken thighs.  Brown thighs in skillet on both sides.  Remove to a plate.  Add mushrooms and garlic to pan.  Saute until mushrooms are slightly brown, careful not to burn garlic.  Add wine to pan, scraping up brown bits in bottom of skillet.  Add chicken stock, chicken, bacon, onions and thyme sprigs to pan.  Cover and cook on low an hour.  Check for tenderness.  If not tender cook 10-20 minutes more.  Remove chicken to side plate.  Mix cornstarch and water, add to sauce in pan and stir until thickened.  Add chicken back to pan.  Let heat for 5 minutes.

Serve this with mashed potatoes and oven roasted carrots.

Welcome Home,

Penny