Any time you can use champagne to cook, it has to be a good thing.
So the daring cooks challenge this month was about the technique of braising. I actually braise more than I realized, as dinner one night showed. I was "just making dinner" when I realized that what I was doing was braising so I broke out the camera and took some photos of the final product.
I used Jamie Oliver's chicken in milk recipe but used coconut milk instead and it was brilliant! (as Jamie might say) The chicken was moist, really flavorful and the gravy that it makes is to die for. The gravy looks a little weird because the milk curdles but that is what it is suppose to do.
The recipe that I spent lots of time on was one that I found on the Food 52 site and it was so unusual that I had to make it.
Beef braised in pears and champagne tempted my taste buds and it certainly was a reward worth the work.
As an accompaniment to the beef I looked to Julia Child and her brown butter braised cucumbers with pine nuts. I have to admit that the thought of braised cucumbers was not that appealing to me but they are pretty good and combined with honey glazed carrots (my back up in case the cucumbers were horrible) they are fantastic!
Thanks Carol! Great choice for the challenge and I loved every minute of it. Make sure that you check out what some of the other amazing Daring Cooks have done at the Daring Kitchen.
The March, 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Carol, a/k/a Poisonive – and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman’s technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”.
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7 comments:
Wow, both of them look delicious. Coconut milk was a brilliant substitution for the chicken!
Braised cucumber sounds so intriguing good to hear it was very reasonable and the coconut braised chicken sounds extra delicious lovely pixs as well. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Hmmm... that coconut chicken sounds delish, and the braised beef looks amazing! I think I would like the braised cucumber, great to know that it was good :)
Wow - braised cucumber sounds intriguing but delicious -I'll have to give it a go - I love cucumber cooked in soup :o)
The beef and cucumber dishes are very intriguing. Sounds like you really rocked this challenge.
I love your post! And the champagne braising will be a must try for me! Great job!
Carol
Oooh - the chicken in coconut milk sounds fantastic, and the beef with pears and champagne sounds deliciously decadent. And braised cucumbers to boot? Way to go! And I had to laugh... I had the same reaction - whoa - I braise more than I realized! :)
Really great job on the challenge.
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