La petite biscotte

It’s the third day of my Gordon Ramsay test cooking. Today I decided to attempt a warm chicken salad from Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy“. First let me say that I am extremely happy about my recipe choice. I was completely blown away by this dish. Without exaggarating, I didn’t eat something as good as this in a long time. The flavours mixed well, the vinaigrette was light and didn’t overpower the taste of anything else, the chicken itself had a sublime taste from poaching in a flavourful liquor and the bacon added a really nice crunch to the salad.

I will definately cook this dish again, especially for guests. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough baby spinach leaves so I had to divide the chicken and the artichokes on two plates (that’s why there is so many on the picture). The portion was huge but we didn’t eat anything else so it was fine. The only thing that I’d really like to add is about frying the chicken: whenever you see a chicken recipe in a cookbook, do not mind any cooking times that are indicated. The thickness of chicken breasts differs greatly and it is crucial to verify yourself if the chicken is still pink in the middle or not. It’s very dangerous to eat a rare piece of chicken. This is why you should always check if the meat is cooked in the middle, if not, cover the chicken with a lid and put it back on the stove for a few minutes on lower heat. Or slice the chicken breast in a half and fry it on the uncooked sides. Or if the meat already has a nice color on the outside but isn’t cooked inside, put it in the oven for a few minutes.

(Adapted from Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy)

Ingredients

• 2 rosmary sprigs or 1 tsp of dried rosmary
• 2 thyme sprigs or 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 2-3 chicken breasts (depending on the size, with skin on if you like)
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil
• 25g butter
• 150g artichoke hearts (from a jar or a can)
• 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 6 slices of bacon
• 50 ml basic vinaigrette (100 ml olive oil, 100 ml sunflower or groundnut oil, 3 Tbsp white wine or cider vinegar, salt & pepper –> mix with an immersion blender and keep in the fridge for use)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 150g baby spinach

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Preparation

1. Put the herbs, garlic and the stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Clean the chicken breasts (cut of fat etc.) and put them in the simmering liquor. Let poach for about 3 minutes or until the meat is firm to touch. Let the chicken cool off in the liquor.
2. Remove the chicken from the liquor, heat the olive oil in a non stick frying pan and once it’s nicely hot, put the chicken breasts inside (if you use chicken breasts with skin, put them in skin side down). Now put a lid on the frying pan and and let it cook for approximately 5 minutes (until the skin is crisp). Turn the chicken and add the butter. Cover again and let cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Remove the lid from the chicken and check if it’s done in the middle, if not, either let it cook as a whole for a few more minutes at a lower temperature with the lid on. Or halve the breasts and fry the pieces with the uncooked side down. Or put the frying pan with the chicken in the oven for a few minutes.
4. Drain the artichokes through a sieve and remove all excess oil. Dry them on kitchen paper and drizzle with the lemon juice.
5. Pan fry the bacon until it’s nicely crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.
6. Mix the vinaigrette with the balsamic vinegar and the shallot.
7. Now slice the chicken breasts in six long slices each. Arrange 4 plates with the chicken the baby spinach leaves, the atichokes and the bacon. Drizzle with your vinaigrette.

Serves 4, enjoy

When I moved here to France I started to get to know French cuisine. One thing I truly fell in love with are tarts and quiches of all sort. If you wonder what’s the difference… well quiches normally always contain a savory custard which is made of eggs, milk and cream. They are also often garnished with several different ingredients like leeks and crisp bacon for example. Furthermore there is no sweet version of quiche.
Tarts on the other hand can be both sweet and savory. They can be filled with a custard but don’t have to and it mostly only features one main ingredient like “Tarte au chocolat” or “Tarte au citron” (Lemon-tart).
Anyway both are equally tempting. If you find the idea strange of eating a savory tart/pie, just forget about it and try some, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

My mother in law, who has been a great inspiration for me, was so nice as to teach me her recipe for a tarte aux tomates. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients

• 1 roll/sheet of shortcrust pastry
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 little onion (optional)
• 2-3 tomatoes (depending on the size)
• 250g of grated cheese (I used emmental, you can use a different cheese though, Parmesan for example)
• thyme (best is fresh but dried works too)
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

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Preparation

1. Preheat the oven at 180 °C.
2. Cover a tart/pie form with the sheet of shortcrust pastry.
3. Pierce it with a fork a few times and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile wash the tomatoes and cut them in slices.
5. Once the pastry is done, remove it from the oven and while being careful not to burn yourself spread the mustard on the bottom of the pastry.
6. Cover the whole bottom with half of the cheese.
7. Add the onions if you are using any.
8. Lay out the tomato slices evenly to cover the whole tart. If you’ve got too many, just stack them a little. Don’t put too many though else there is going to be too much liquid.
9. Cover with the rest of the cheese, add a little salt and pepper and sprinkle with the thyme.
10. Drizzle a little olive oil on top then put the tart back into the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Serves 8. Enjoy!