Escabèche to the Rescue

It’s boiling hot. Still, I feel like eating something that is different and piquant. Chicken Escabèche to the rescue. I found the recipe in my Chicken for Every Occasion Cookbook, published in 1988. The recipe
is basically an assembly job that takes longer in telling that in doing. What’s even better, the dish is best
when cooked a day ahead.

Menu

Chicken Escabèche
Mixed salad of arugula, corn kernel, sweet peas, pitted Niçoise olives, grape tomatoes
Wine: Petit Bourgeois, 2009
Sauvignon Blanc, Vin de Pays du Val De Loire
Henri Bourgeois
Dessert: Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Ice Cream with fresh strawberries

Recipe Chicken Escabèche

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon lime juice
   juice of ½ lemon
¾ cup white wine
Bouquet garni of 2 bay leaves, 10 peppercorns, 10 coriander, 1 teaspoon dried thyme tied in cheesecloth
1 to 2 tablespoons imported small capers
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 small or 1 large chicken leg, drumstick and thigh separated, skin removed*
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley and lemon wedges for garnish

*Have your butcher do that.
Combine all ingredients except the chicken and garnish in a saucepan, bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chicken pieces. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, turning the chicken pieces over once. Remove the chicken from the heat and let cool. Discard the bouquet garni. Return the chicken pieces to the saucepan. Cover, refrigerate and let set to jell.

Frankly, I had my doubts about the jelling part. But, when I removed the dish shortly before serving, the mixture had indeed jelled. I took the drumstick and served George the thigh.

“Should have been butchered better,” he said.

Give me a break!