Pommes Fondant (Stock potatoes)

This recipe is great is you want a change for your Sunday dinner, The prep time isn't that much but the flavours are great!, I have decided to use these in the Christmas dinner this year, they never disappoint  This recipe is for about 8-10 People 

Pommes Fondant (Stock potatoes)

1.5kg Potatoes, Turned

250ml Clarified Butter

500ml Chicken Stock

Salt

Cracked peppercorns

Chopped Parsley

Method:

1. Toss the potatoes in the butter until coloured
2. Cover 2/3 with chicken stock and place in the preheated oven 220/ gas mark 7 for 45 minutes
3. Brush with melted butter halfway through cooking
4. Arrange on vegetable dishes and brush with melted butter and garnish with chopped parsley

Sauces for Chicken

Chicken Veloute: 

80g Roux

½ Litre of Stock

Method:

1. Cook the Roux until it reaches a blond stage and then add in the chicken stock bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins. 
2. Skimming every 10 mins.

Chicken Supreme: 

500ml White Chicken Stock

100g White Mushroom Trimmings

800ml Chicken Veloute

100ml Cream

75g Butter

Method:

1. Place the white chicken stock and the mushrooms in a saucepan and reduce by half. 
2. Add the chicken Veloute and reduce to a coating consistency. 
3. Pass through a fine trainer. 
4. Mix the butter in thoroughly away from the heat. 
5. Finish with the cream and adjust the seasoning.

The Basics - Chicken For Saute

Cutting up a chicken for saute is handy to know- its sometimes cheaper to buy a whole chicken for 6/7 even 8 euro and then cut it up, when you do you get: (13 pieces)
2 breasts

2 fillets
2 thighs
2 wing
2 drumstick
2 pieces of the crown
1 carcass

By getting a whole chicken and cutting it up yourself means you get a variety of means brown and white on the bone and off as well as the carcass and wing-lets you could use for making the chicken stock. In most shops/butchers 6 chicken fillets or 4 breasts of chicken will cost 6 euro if you buy a whole chicken you can reduce how much you spend on meat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7oH0QsSRE This video is from the Culinary Arts course in DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology)

The Basics - Beef Stock

Beef Stock:

1.5kg Beef Bones

200g Sliced Carrots

100g Chopped Onion

250ml White Wine

1 Celery Stalk Thinly Sliced

6 Tomatoes Peeled, De-seeded and Chopped

150g Button Mushrooms Thinly Sliced

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Bouquet Garni

Method:

1. Brown the bones in the oven, add the carrots and the onion and cook for 5 mins in the oven. Remove and place in a large pot, remove fat from the roasting tray and de-glaze with white wine. Reduce by half and then add 3 litres of cold water and bring to the boil.
2. Skim, simmer for 10 mins and then add the rest of the ingredients, simmer for 8 hours skimming regularly.
3. Strain and reduce the stock by one third OR reduce by half for a glaze (which can then be added to sauces to enhance the flavour)

The Basics - Chicken Stock

My freezer is full of this, i use it all the time! for homemade; sauces soups even cooking rice or cous cous to get the added flavour. You don't have to use a chicken carcass you could always go and buy the cheap cuts such as the wing-lets and make a chicken stock from them. There is a difference in flavour between the homemade stock and the store bought. The latter tends to have more salt which isnt great for some dishes as when you add other ingredients it can become too salty.

Chicken Stock

1 Chicken Carcass

200g Carrots Sliced

2 White Leeks Sliced

1 Celery Stick

1 Onion

150g Button Mushrooms, Thinly Sliced (Optional)

Bouquet Garni

Method:

Put the chicken in a pot and add 2.5 litres of water, simmer for 5 mins and then skim, add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 4 hours, then allow to cool and strain