My Grandmother's pie + Alsacien kraut
My death-row dish, and some very tangy, very French choucroute to accompany it.
This is the only dish that ever stands the “what’s your favorite X” question, by virtue of being not only delicious and smelling GREAT (seriously! That sauce is to DIE for!), but also loaded with childhood nostalgia.
My grandmother did not actually develop this recipe; like many women in the 70s, she got a lot of her meal inspiration from recipe cards at the back of women’s magazines - this one came from Madame Figaro. It’s been a staple in our family since, and a recipe I’ve had the pleasure of consuming every summer I spent in France as a child. As I got older and more cooking-proficient, I sought to recreate it.
The original recipe is made with veal shin, a common cut in French butcheries. It gets embellished with tarragon and cognac, and studded through with black and green olives (10 of each, exactly!). Veal is more difficult to come by in England and more expensive, so I’ve replaced it with chicken thighs - a very good bedmate for tarragon. I’ve also added some white wine stock for a bit of acidity, and have upped the herb quantities. Totally easy and a winner for when you have people over you want to impress: I served it at my last dinner party with & the Table.
And to go with, some choucroute - an Alsacien sauerkraut that’s as natural as sauerkraut can be.
Choucroute is typical of the Alsace region in northeast France bordering Germany, and is traditionally made with just white cabbage, salt, and sometimes some juniper berries or black peppercorn, although this is contested depending on who you speak to. It’s usually served in the dish choucroute garnie, or “garnished sauerkraut”. The kraut gets used as a bed for all sorts of pork products, including sausages (kielbasa-style), pork ribs, smoked bacon, ham and usually finished off with goose fat, juniper berries (if it isn’t included in the kraut), bay leaves, and some lovely regional white wine such as a Riesling. The whole lot gets baked off in the oven with all the fats melting into the kraut; it is absolutely divine. Excellent use of your kraut if you’ve got excess!
Bear in mind that once cooked, kraut loses its probiotic benefits (the microorganisms die off!) - but it will remain delicious. For a refresher on some key lactic fermentation principles, check out my post on Pickled Gherkins. And for some fermentation basics, read the one on Golden Kraut. Or maybe you’re just looking for a really fun weekend breakfast option - then make my Cinnabon Cinnamon Buns! The only buns I swear by.
THE RECIPES
My grandmother’s veal (or chicken) pie
Ingredients:
600g of veal shin or boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3cm pieces
250g smoked streaky bacon, cut into 1cm pieces
250g carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
3 large onions
1 shallot
200g button mushrooms
10 pitted kalamata olives
10 pitted green olives
Large handful of flat-leaf parsley
Large handful of tarragon
5 twigs of thyme
3 bay leaves
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 cube of white wine stock
3 cups of water
2 tbsp of cognac
1 egg
Salt, pepper
For pastry:
350g all-purpose flour
175g cold, cubed salted butter
½ cup of water (more if necessary)
Instructions:
Night before: Prepare pastry. Rub flour and butter until mixture resembles coarse sand. Add water little by little and mix gently until dough comes together (adding more or less water if necessary). Refrigerate overnight and pull out 15 min before rolling out.
Sautée the bacon with olive oil until rendered. Remove and brown the veal or chicken until well browned. Remove from pot, leaving the rendered fat.
Mince the onions and shallot and slice the carrot and mushrooms in 1-cm pieces and sweat with the bacon fat. Add the chopped herbs and olives, and sweat 5 more minutes. Salt lightly (bearing in mind the bacon, olives, and stock will add loads!).
Add back in the meats along with the stock pre-dissolved in enough water to cover. Simmer for about 1 hour or until meat is fork-tender. Let cool to room temp.
When the stew is cooled, roll out ⅔ pastry onto a well buttered and floured edged tart tin. Brush bottom with egg white, and refrigerate for 10 min.
Strain the meat and vegetables and layer into the pastry. Reserve sauce.
Cover pie with rest of the rolled out pastry dough, sealing edges. Brush with egg yolk, and refrigerate. Preheat the oven to 190c no fan.
Once oven is preheated, put your pie in for 15 min.
Whilst baking, reduce the reserved sauce by half and stir in cognac at the end.
Pull pie out of oven and cut an opening in the top of the pastry - pour half the sauce into the opening little by little, swirling the tin around so the sauce is distributed. Bake for 25 more minutes until top is golden brown and edges pull away from tin.
Serve warm with rest of the sauce on the side.
Alsacien kraut
For 1 lt jar
Ingredients:
1 head of white cabbage
2% of the total weight of cabbage in sea salt; or 2 teaspoons
Black peppercorns or juniper berries (optional)
Instructions:
Remove the brown end of the core, the outer leaf, and quarter the cabbage.
Shred the cabbage very finely, either by hand or using a mandolin.
In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage and salt.
Massage the cabbage with the salt to draw out the liquid, until it becomes limp and there’s a puddle at the bottom of the bowl.
Grab a handful of the cabbage mix and place in your jar; using your fist or a blunt-tipped object (like a rolling pin), compress the layer down to get rid of air pockets and to make the liquid rise to the surface.
Continue packing all the cabbage in, bit by bit, until it’s well-compressed (leaving two inches from the mouth of the jar).
Wipe down the sides of the jar, both inside and outside, to remove any bits (which can get contaminated by mold if exposed to oxygen for too long).
Add the remaining liquid to cover the surface of the mix. Label your jar with the date and contents.
Cover with a tea towel secured with a rubberband, or place your lid on top without fully sealing it, and let ferment at room temperature for 7-14 days. Push the veg down every day to re-submerge it (or use a fermentation weight).
Taste every day, and when it’s to your liking, seal the lid and refrigerate.
Learn to ferment with me! Upcoming Courses:
March 20th
March 24th (just one more spot!!)