Luxembourg: Chicken for White Wine Lovers
It is well known that Luxembourg is a small country. In the classic "see every country in Europe" bus tours, Luxembourg was nicknamed "Lunch-in-bourg," because they stopped in Luxembourg for lunch while they passed through.
What isn't so well known about Luxembourg is the signature dish of Chicken with Riesling or Hong am Rèisleck. When I first heard of it, I thought, cool, it's like the classic French dish of Coq au Vin, but with white wine. Much to my surprise, it is a very different animal, while sharing many ingredients. Both recipes include chicken (big surprise there), shallots, garlic, cognac, mushrooms, parsley, and wine. And both are delicious and definitely worth cooking!
One major difference is that the chicken with Riesling uses something called a liaison to thicken the sauce at the end of the cooking. In this case, the liaison is made from cream and egg yolks and once it is added to the dish, you have to take it off the heat, or the heat will curdle the eggs. It adds richness and body to the dish.
after adding the liaison
Preparation and cooking time 60 minutes
Serves 6 people
Ingredients:
75 g / 6 tablespoons butter
1/2 kilo of boneless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons cognac
1 cup Riesling
1 cup chicken stock
150 g / 6 oz cremini or button mushrooms
handful of fresh parsley
1 egg yolk
100 g / 4 oz heavy cream
1 tablespoon of flour
Directions:
Chop the shallots and garlic finely.
Heat half the butter in stewing pan and lightly brown the chicken on both sides.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add the shallots and garlic and continue to cook over medium heat until the shallots and garlic are softened.
Add the cognac and cook 5 more minutes before adding the Riesling and chicken stock.
Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
While the chicken mixture is cooking, chop the mushrooms and parsley. Put the chopped parsley aside for later.
Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms until the edges are browned. Add the mushrooms to the chicken mixture.
A few minutes before the 30 minutes are up, whisk together the egg yolk, cream, flour, and nutmeg.
Add some of the liquid from the cooking chicken and stir it into the egg and cream mixture to temper it.
Pour this over the chicken mixture, stir thoroughly and immediately turn off the heat.
Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Stir in the parsley.
Serve with hot buttered noodles or dumplings.
with noodles and sautéed cabbage
