In a large plastic bag, add the chicken, salt, pepper, and ½ cup flour. Seal the bag and shake, covering each piece of chicken with the flour.Liberating Chicken Fricassee with Skillet Cornmeal Biscuits
An honest tribute to the Great Emancipator. Good Old Abe loved his chicken fricassee! Fricassee involves cooking cut-up meat that is braised or sauteed and serving it with a white sauce. This French term dates back to the mid-sixteenth century and is thought to be a combination of the words frire (to fry) and casser (to break into pieces.) Julia Child referred to it as “halfway between a saute and a stew.”
INGREDIENTS
Chicken Fricassee
3 lb chicken thighs, boneless and trimmed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 Tbsp extra
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
2 stalks celery, diced finely
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup white wine (we used Riesling)
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 egg yolks, whisked
¼ cup heavy cream
6 oz baby spinach
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tsp tarragon
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
DIRECTIONS
Chicken Fricassee:
In a large plastic bag, add the chicken, salt, pepper, and ½ cup flour. Seal the bag and shake, covering each piece of chicken with the flour.
Heat 2 Tbsp butter and olive oil in a deep pan or Dutch oven on medium-high. Add the whole fresh sprigs of thyme to the pan. Remove each piece of chicken from the bag, shaking off any excess flour, and discard the bag of flour. Add the chicken to the hot pan, working in batches. Cook until both sides are brown, and remove from the pan. Set aside.
Add the carrots, celery, and onions to the pan until they begin to become soft. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp butter, melt, and add the remaining 2 Tbsp flour to the pan. Stir for 3 minutes until the flour soaks up all the liquid.
Add the wine to the pan, and stir well. Continue to cook and stir the vegetables and wine until the mixture is thick and the liquid is gone. Add the chicken stock and bay leaves, stirring well to ensure there are no lumps. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the nutmeg, stir, and return the chicken to the pan. Lower the heat to simmer and lightly cover the pan. Cook for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, combine the egg yolks and cream in a small bowl.
Uncover the pan, remove bay leaves, add the spinach, and stir.
Remove 1 tsp of the liquid from the pan and slowly add it to the egg mix while stirring, to temper the eggs. Repeat that step three more times, raising the temperature of the eggs. Slowly drizzle the warmed egg mixture into the pan with the chicken.
Finish with the lemon juice, tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Suggestion: serve with our Skillet Cornmeal Biscuits (see below).
INGREDIENTS
Skillet Cornmeal Biscuits:
3½ cups self-rising flour, plus extra for dusting
½ cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter (frozen), plus 3 Tbsp (room temperature), divided
2 cups buttermilk, cold
DIRECTIONS
Skillet Cornmeal Biscuits:
Heat the oven at 425 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Remove 1 stick butter from the freezer. Using a cheese grater, shred the butter over the flour. We hold the butter with a clean dishcloth or paper towel. The butter is the reason you get delicious layers. The warmer the butter gets with your touch, the less effective it becomes. Use a wooden spoon or pastry cutter to blend the butter into the flour. This should not look fully combined; there will be flour-covered butter balls in the bowl.
Add the buttermilk and stir. Do not over-handle this dough. It should not look smooth like pizza or bread dough; instead, it should look like it does not want to fully stick together. If you think it is too dry, add a bit more buttermilk.
Place a cast-iron skillet into the oven to get it piping hot! We used a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Helpful hint: have a good pair of oven mitts available.
Invert the bowl of dough over a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, not a rolling pin, shape the dough while flattening it a bit. Remember: do not overdo it with your hands. The dough should be about 1-inch thick. Keep working with the dough until there is nothing left, reforming as needed. Using a large biscuit cutter makes about 10–12 biscuits.
Open the oven, and drop 2 Tbsp butter into the skillet. Once melted, add the biscuits to the pan. The biscuits should be touching each other and fill up the pan. We melted an additional 1 Tbsp butter and basted the top.
Cook for 15–17 minutes, or until the biscuits become nice and golden.
Serve with our Cranberry and Orange Honey Butter (page 50) or use them to sop up the Liberating Chicken Fricassee (page 115). These are so easy to make and so delicious that you will find reasons to make them!
