The Anglo-French agreements signed today herald a new dawn of co-operation between two closely matched military powers. Perhaps.
It will mean that UK planes will be able to land on a French aircraft carrier and vice versa.
I can see a lot of co-operation in the form of fact finding trips over the next few months. We will just have to accept that catering on the French side will far outstrip anything that the British Navy can manage afloat.
Meanwhile, I would advise the French fact-finders to adopt the “Thank you, but we've just eaten” approach.
With this in mind I offer the following simple recipe that even the gallant crew of HMS Overindulgence should be able to knock up.
Coq Sarkozy
A tough old bird with a hint of Eastern Europe.
Preparation Time: 12 hours, but some of that is while you are sleeping.
Ingredients
Meat
2kg chicken, cut into 6 large pieces or 10 boneless chicken thighs
100g of short Hungarian or Polish sausage, cut into slices
Veg
2 white onions, chopped
2 carrots, cut into 2-3cm pieces
- 100g tiny onions or shallots
- 100g of mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
Liquids
1 bottle of red wine - ask the chaplain
30ml brandy
30ml Olive oil
Extras
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 5ml dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 30ml of chopped fresh parsley
- 3ml ground black pepper
- 5ml salt
- 10ml sugar
- 30g butter for frying
- 30g butter, softened for the beurre manié or kneeded butter, used to thicken the sauce, just before serving.
- 20g of plain flour
Preparation
Put the dismembered bird into a large casserole dish. Place the vegetables, herbs and seasoning over the meat.
Meanwhile in another bowl mix the wine, brandy and the olive oil. Then slowly pour this mixture over the chicken and the vegetables in the casserole dish. Place the dish and its cover in the fridge overnight.
Wash your hands, wash up and then have a cup of tea and a fag outside.
Allow the marinate the mixture overnight, for 8-12 hours.
Next day
Get the oven to 220C.
Meanwhile in a large frying pan melt 30g of butter. With a slotted spoon remove each piece of the chicken and brown them on each side in the frying pan. Set aside the chicken in a separate bowl. Then fish out all of the vegetables and cook them for 5 minutes, until they start to become tender.
Arrange the chicken in the casserole dish, add the vegetables, then pour the liquid over the whole lot. Add the sugar and salt and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes.
While the chicken is baking, fry the sausage until it is golden but not crispy and then set it aside to drain in a strainer. Now, using the same frying pan sauté the mushrooms and onions until they soften. Remove the casserole dish from the oven, then add the sausage, mushrooms, and onions. Put the lid back on and return to the oven for 30 minutes.
To prepare the beurre manié or kneeded butter, mash the softened butter and the flour together with a fork. You will end up with a paste.
Add the beurre manié to the chicken and vegetables for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Then remove the casserole dish from the oven and stir the beurre manie throughout the dish to allow the sause to thicken uniformly.
Braized Red Cabbage
Ingredients
Veg
- 1 red cabbage, shredded
- 1 onion, shredded
Liquids
- 125ml water
- 30ml red-wine vinegar
Extras
- 30g butter
- 60g brown sugar
- 3ml teaspoon black pepper
- 5ml teaspoon salt
- 5ml cinnamon, ground fine
Preparation
- Cook the cabbage and onion in butter in a large pan, until it collapses down.
- In another bowl, mix together the water, vinegar, brown sugar, and seasoning until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the liquid mixture to the cabbage mixture. Bring it to a boil, then simmer.
- Continue to cook the cabbage until it is tender. This may take 15 to 20 minutes.
- If you prefer you could make the cabbage at the same time as the marinaded chicken and keep it in the fridge overnight too.
Good luck.
And never, ever say “Bon appetit”.
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