[Old Fashioned Chicken Fricassee with Wine Flavored Cream Sauce, Onions and Mushrooms]
We made a fairly elaborate and time-consuming (and pot-dirtying) dinner last night - Julia says that this is a traditional Sunday dinner dish...but you know we uaually have omelettes on Sunday...
...you start with some butter (Earth Balance)...
...and some cut up 'chicken' we just used some extra firm tofu cut up...which you cook for a few minutes...
...then cover and cook for 10 minutes more...
...then you take the partially cooked pieces out...
...and roll them in a mixture of flour, white pepper and salt...
...then you put them back in the pan...
...cover again...
and cook until golden...
...then I added the carrots, celery, and onion...Julia has you sauté these first and then add the tofu...but that just seemed backwards to me...maybe you need to do that with real chicken...
...anyway, I sautéed those...
... and put the tofu back in...
...meanwhile, you make your pearl onions...
...you just make an herb bouquet and boil the onions in some vegan chicken stock with the bouquet...I used my little tea ball for the herb bouquet...
...and mushrooms for the garnish...
...it's a couple of whole recipes referenced in the main recipe here - which is fairly common with Julia...I'm going to count the onion recipe but not the mushroom because I sort of hodgepodged the real recipe as I only had canned mushrooms...
...next you add some vegan chicken stock...
...some wine and also the cooking liquid from the mushrooms and onions to the chicken pan...
...then mix some vegan cream with some flax seed goo...
...mix with a wire whisk...
...add some of the cooking liquid to the cream mixture...
...I did this step but I'm sure it isn't necessary with vegan eggs...
...add the cream mixture back to the pan...
...bring to a boil...
...and cook a few minutes until thickened - correct the seasoning adding salt, white pepper, drops of lemon juice and nutmeg...
...then get a clean casserole dish...
...and arrange the mushroom and onion garniture over the 'chicken'...
...and there you have it...
...with a roll and a side of what Scout still calls three/colour/veg we had a very nice (if late) meal...
...the sauce was superb - delicate with wine and herbs - the tofu/'chicken' was very chewy and tasty but not at all crunchy...
...definitely a success...
Substitutions: Earth Balance for Butter
Vegan Cream for the Cream
Extra Firm Tofu for the Chicken
Vegan Chicken Bouillon for the Chicken Stock
Flax seed goo for the eggs
Recipe here:
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
pp. 258-261
