Poulet Moutarde with Potato–Mustard Greens Fritters
From Mustard Madness
Clockwise from upper left: Potato & Mustard Greens Fritters, Bibb Lettuce & Mizuna Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette, and on the lower left, the Poulet Moutarde served with the fritters
Poulet Moutarde (Mustard Chicken)
- Yield: Serves 6
Description
I love it when a restaurant annotates a menu with stories and tidbits about special dishes. That was the bonus when I first ordered the delicious Poulet à la Moutarde at La Note restaurant in Berkeley. The menu had the dish subtitled with the French idiom La moutarde me monte au nez!, which means “the mustard climbs up my nose.” It’s a colorful way of saying “I’m getting mad.” However, my takeaway was, “Gee, I’m really mad about mustard and the way those isothiocyanate compounds’ fumes hit my olfactory receptors!”
Thanks to Chef Paul Canales of Duende and the soon-to-open Occitania for this easy-but-elegant recipe. —CAK
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on
For the marinade:
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, best quality
- 2 tablespoons white wine (Only use wine that reaches the quality that you’d want to drink!)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To braise:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 shallots peeled, halved, and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
To finish:
- 4 ounces heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, best quality
- 1 bunch tarragon, finely chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
One day ahead, combine the chicken thighs with mustard, wine, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Massage well with your hands, cover, and refrigerate.
An hour before cooking, take the bowl containing the chicken and its marinade from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. When you’re ready to cook the dish, remove the chicken thighs from the bowl and wipe dry with paper towels.
Heat a heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter foams, add the chicken thighs skin side down and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp. Flip thighs over and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
Remove the chicken to a platter, leaving the remaining renderings in the pan. Next, add the shallots, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme to the pan and sauté for about 5 minutes, until soft but not brown. If you need to lower the heat to accomplish this, now is the time.
Next, raise the heat to high and add the wine, deglazing any of the flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan as the wine come to a boil. Once the wine has reduced by about ¾, add the chicken stock. Return to the boil and reduce by ⅓.
Once the stock has reduced, add the chicken thighs back into the pan skin side up, cover, and reduce the heat to accomplish a very gentle simmer. Cook chicken for 20 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to rest, covered.
To finish, remove the chicken from the pan to the platter and stir in the cream, mustard, and tarragon. Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then return the chicken to the pan, swirl the contents, and serve.
- Category: Entree
Potato and Mustard Greens Fritters
- Yield: Serves 6-8 1x
Description
Chef Paul Canales makes these easy fritters at home. As we found in our test kitchen, his good advice for choosing greens can make all the difference in the outcome of this dish: You want to taste your raw greens for flavor, and also determine if the greens might be so mature as to have grown fibrous. “ If they are very mature, I might remove the ribs, then roll and thinly slice them,” says Canales. “Then I might sauté in a little olive oil—well seasoned with salt and pepper—and add a splash or two of water if needed to encourage them! This will break them down better while preserving their flavor.”
Ingredients
- 1 pound mustard greens
- 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Rice flour for dredging (if needed)
- Olive oil for frying
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt: Think the taste of the ocean. Blanch the mustard greens quickly in the boiling salted water and then remove them from the pot with tongs and drop into a colander to drain. Leave the boiling water on the hot burner for the potatoes.
Drop the potatoes in their jackets into the boiling water and cook until fork tender. Remove from the pot and let cool until you can easily hold the potatoes to peel off their jackets. Toss the jackets into your compost bucket. Place the peeled potatoes into a large bowl and roughly mash them. You want the potatoes to be dry, so if they let off any steam, allow them to dry for at least 10 minutes.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a skillet and sauté the minced garlic briefly. Add to the cooked potatoes.
Wad up the cooled, blanched mustard greens in your hands and squeeze out the moisture. Chop the greens and add them to the potato mixture. Add the egg and some salt and pepper to taste. Combine well and form into cakes. If the cakes are moist, dredge them in rice flour.
Heat several tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add as many of the cakes as will fit. Fry them on the first side until browned, and then flip and fry on the second side, adding more olive oil to the skillet as needed. Serve hot.
Bibb Lettuce and Mizuna Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette
- Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
Description
Chef/photographer Judy Doherty makes extra dressing to enjoy as a sauce over grilled chicken or fish.
Ingredients
- 4–6 cups Bibb lettuce
- 1–2 cups mizuna
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot or green onion
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- Optional garnish: mustard flowers
Instructions
Rinse and spin the lettuce and mizuna and place in a salad bowl. To make the vinaigrette, place egg yolk, mustard, and shallot into the bowl of a food processor, and, with the motor running, gradually stream in the olive oil alternating with the vinegar. Add more oil, vinegar, or mustard to achieve your preferred taste. Toss the greens with a small amount of dressing, gradually adding more until the salad seems nicely dressed.
