This week, we do a little bit of globetrotting. From Marguerite's Cooking School in Paris, France to owner and founder Muriel Foucher's (pronounced Foo-shay) kitchen in Bellevue, Washington, we get to experience some delicious, yet simple French cooking! Muriel will be the first to tell you that she is not a chef, but an ordinary cook making French favorites. She may not be a chef, but she is anything but ordinary!
This Petite blanquette de poulet à l'estragon (Taragon Chicken) dish has its humble beginnings from a similar French dish made of poor cuts of Veal. Instead of veal, however, more readily available and less expensive chicken thighs have been substituted making it a simple dish to make, quickly to become a weekly family favorite. Historically, it was also made by deglazing the pan in which the chicken was cooked in and creating a heavier roux. This recipe has a lighter sauce, using Crème Fraîche, lemon and tarragon. If you're not familiar with Tarragon, it is one of the four fines herbs of French cooking, and particularly suitable for chicken, lasagna, fish and egg dishes. Long on flavor and bright with tarragon, this modified classic French dish makes a great weeknight dinner!
These Tartelettes de framboises au mascarpone (Raspberries Tartlets), made with real vanilla bean brings out the flavor of the raspberries. Here is a recipe for an astonishingly easy sweet treat that will surely tickle even the most discerning of palates. Make sure to make more than one tartlet for each person because these treats disappear quite quickly.
When using tarragon in cooked dishes, it is best to add it at the end, as heat tends to decrease its flavor.
Rolling tart doughs between two sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper can save a lot of clean up time. You'll also use less flour using this method, producing a more tender, flaky tart crust.
Dijon-Tarragon Cream Chicken
Chicken breasts bathed in a delicate mustard tarragon sauce. A quick and simple recipe that you can serve on a weeknight but tastes like a French chef came to your house!
Tarragon Mushroom Chicken
Round out this saucy seasoned chicken with some rice or pasta.
Strawberries 'n' Cream Tarts
These pretty tartlets are a yummy treat when fresh berries are in season.
White Chocolate Fruit Tart
An absolutely marvelous summer dessert!
Muriel Foucher (pronounced Foo-Shay) is not a chef, but as she puts it, "a cooking passionate" person. She learned to cook with her grandmother Marguerite, hence the name of the cooking school she opened in France almost 8 years ago, Marguerite's Elegant Home Cooking. In 2001, her husband was already working for Microsoft, but was looking to land a job in the Seattle area. Visiting in December of the same year, she fell in love with Seattle, most notably the Pike Place Market. The job didn't work out at that time, but the visit to Seattle planted a seed and shortly thereafter, Muriel opened Marguerite's Cooking School. Nothing fancy, just real French home cooking that could be made ahead, not complicated, and not requiring a long time to prepare. Soon foreigners and tourists were lining up. It was a success!
About a year and a half ago, Muriel moved to Seattle, following her husband by about 4 months. The cooking school is still going strong but Muriel is now cooking for events across the country and teaching for Diane's Market Kitchen in Seattle two times a month. She is very proud of her "cooking family" and stays a part of their lives.
"My method of cooking is simple French cooking. Not complicated. Some recipes may have long cooking times...after all it is still French food, but there is much that can be done once it's in the pot. I have 3 kids. Cooking can't be complicated," she says with a smile.
"Americans are just beginning to regard food the way the French always have. Dinner is not what you do in the evening before you do something else. Dinner is the evening." ~ Art Buchwald
This past summer, I had the rare opportunity to head back to France to be part of a number of ceremonies dedicated to the brave American and French soldiers of WW2. These included the 1) 66th Anniversary of the Liberation of Lunéville, 2) a tribute in the Foret de Parroy to a recently discovered missing tank crew by Gerard Louis, 3) a tribute to the 315th Infantry Regiment in Ancerviller, and lastly, brought about by Sergeant Major Philippe Sugg, 4) a moving memorial to my grandfather who was killed near Frémonville as well as the brave men of the 314th Infantry Regiment. At the last minute before departing the United States, we went on a "hunt" to find an Allrecipes' cook in France that could show us a thing or two about real French cooking and we found it in Marguerite's Elegant Cooking School!
I arrived in Paris and was soon knocking at the door of a beautiful old farmhouse. I was invited in by Rebekah and Clementine (Muriel's daughter) and soon we were making some delicious raspberry tartlettes in the remodeled attic kitchen. These are a favorite of the kids that attend the cooking school and quite simple to make. Just four months later, I met up with Muriel back here in Seattle where she still manages her Paris cooking school as well as hosting cooking events from coast-to-coast and teaching two days a week at Diane's Market Kitchen in Seattle.
French cuisine doesn't have to be impossibly fancy or formal when it comes to cooking for family and friends. Muriel herself has 3 children and admits she doesn't have time to be in the kitchen for hours. As we got started making her Petite blanquette de poulet à l'estragon (Taragon Chicken), I quickly discovered that this cook knew what she was doing. She talked me through every step, patient but encouraging, keeping me from stirring when I wanted to stir, insisting I stir when I was no longer interested...ok, I'm kidding but it's easy to see why she is so successful and currently has over 3000 customers. In a country where four centuries ago Francois Vatel fell on his sword because the turbot was late for a royal banquet, this Allrecipes' cook shows us that it's easy to enjoy delicious French food and keep it simple. Classic but simple French food bliss awaits you in Muriel's capable hands.
Thank you, Muriel, Rebekah, and Clementine!
Marguerite's Elegant Home Cooking
With Marguerite’s cheerful cooking lessons, learn how to impress your friends with original and easy-to-prepare French recipes!
Diane's Market Kitchen
where connecting cooking, companionship, and community combine to create a memory; not just a meal.
The WW2 Letters of Private Melvin W. Johnson
These are my grandfather's letters home during WW2.
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