The table of old times,
The Book of Recipes
Chicken Marengo
Period: 1st Napoleonic Empire / Category: dish
According to legend, recipe by François Claude Guignet, known as Dunand, Napoleon's appointed cook
Ingredients
for 6 persons :
1 chicken of around 2 kg cut into pieces
Salt and pepper
60 g of extra virgin olive oil
40 g of type 55 flour
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 onions, finely chopped
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (or a can of crushed tomatoes)
200 ml dry white wine
200 ml of chicken stock
18 button mushrooms, cleaned and cut into pieces
1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay leaf)
1 tablespoon of brandy
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30 peeled crayfish (or 18 peeled langoustines)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
The preparation
1- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a casserole dish. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, place them in the pan and brown them on all sides.
3- Sprinkle the chicken pieces with the flour and mix until the flour is well incorporated and without lumps.
4- Gradually add the chicken stock and white wine and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. 5- Add the crushed tomatoes (or a can of crushed tomatoes), the mushrooms cut into pieces and the bouquet garni.
6- Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the casserole.
7- Add the crayfish (or langoustines) and the cognac.
Mix and cook for another 10 minutes. 8- Serve sprinkled with freshly chopped parsley.
Annotations
According to legend, Dunand prepared this dish for Napoleon after the Battle of Marengo and served it accompanied by fried eggs and bread croutons. For my part, I did not include it in my preparation (I must not recover my strength after a battle...).
