Dinner this evening comprised an Alsace, or Belgian, recipe of chicken thighs (skin and bone attached, as that is where the flavour lies) with beer, (rather than the more usual wine).
Years ago, at a private dinner in Paris, I was served a stunning, superb, version of this dish, a dish I had never come across until then - guinea fowl with beer and juniper berries - with sautéed potatoes and salad.
I had entirely forgotten this dish, (although I am a fan of beer cooked with food, as one frequently finds in Belgian cuisine), until - with pure delight - a few weeks ago, I came across a version (chicken with beer and juniper berries) on the You Tube Channel "French Cooking Academy" with the excellent Stephane Nguyen.
Anyway, the chicken thighs (organic, free range, purchased at the farmers' market yesterday) were seasoned (sea salt, and black pepper), then sautéed first, in olive oil, until a little coloured, whereupon some stock, a bottle of Belgian beer (Trappistes Rochefort 8), were added, as were some sprigs of thyme, a few sprigs of rosemary, a couple of cloves, and, this is key, a teaspoon of juniper berries.
Later, when the sauce had been allowed to reduce considerably, a little (organic) double cream was added.
Accompanying this was a dish of mixed salad greens, with homemade French dressing: Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a teaspoon of local runny honey, a small amount of freshly minced garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil.
Also accompanying this dish is one of a number of French bistro style potato dishes (again, the inspiration came from The French Cooking Academy channel, as they offer several French bistro potato style recipes): This particular dish took the form of several peeled, diced, potatoes, that had rested, soaking, in water for the best part of an hour. They were then dried, and sautéed, slowly, in olive oil (but not, note, parboiled, first), stirred frequently; next some diced onion and minced garlic (lots of minced garlic), were added, stirred through, and sautéed; after a few minutes, a little stock was added to this pan, as was a lid, and this lot were allowed to simmer away until the potatoes were cooked through (which takes a lot longer than one may think, as these weren't first parboiled), the onions and minced garlic dissolved and disintegrated into the dish, whereupon some freshly chopped parsley was added for reasons of both optics (appearance) and taste.
Beer, rather than wine, would be the usual accompaniment.
Exceedingly tasty.
I typically do it as I did above just for ease and time. I love it as is with a big crusty loaf of bread! A very humble yet simultaneously elegant dish.
