Клео Коул - French Pressed

STEP FOUR: BRAISE THE ONIONS

12–18 white boiling onions (peeled)

Clarified butter or olive oil

Chicken broth

1 cup red wine

Sea salt

Sauté 12 to 18 peeled white boiling onions in clarified butter or olive oil. Swirl the pan to brown them, or they will not braise evenly (approximately 12 minutes on low heat). Add chicken broth and a cup of red wine to half cover the onions. Season lightly with sea salt. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 to 30 minutes, until onions are tender but retain their shape when pierced.

STEP FIVE: SAUTÉ THE MUSHROOMS

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon light olive oil or cooking oil

3–4 cups fresh mushrooms, trimmed, washed, dried, and quartered

½ tablespoon chopped shallots (or scallions)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Set a 10-inch nonstick frying pan over high heat with butter and oil. When the foam from the butter subsides, add the mushrooms. Toss frequently for a few minutes while the mushrooms absorb the butter. In a minute or so, the butter will reappear; then add the shallots (or scallions) and ground pepper to taste and brown lightly.

STEP SIX: FINISH THE SAUCE

Pour the pan juices into a saucepan. Clean the frying pan you started with (you’ll need it again). Boil down the juice a bit to concentrate the flavors. Remove from heat and whisk in the beurre manié to make a slightly thickened sauce. Bring briefly to simmer. Return the chicken to the clean pan; coat pieces with sauce.

STEP SEVEN: ASSEMBLE THE DISH

Strew a portion (to taste) of the pork lardons, all the braised onions, and all the sautéed mushrooms over the chicken. Baste with the sauce and simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve with warm bread (to dip in that delicious sauce).

A delightful dish for a cold winter morning, especially tasty if served warm, with or without butter, along with your favorite coffee. Traditional recipes use skim milk and less sugar. Mine’s sweeter, and the half-and-half brings a slightly richer texture to the party.

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup yellow cornmeal

3 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon (dash) salt

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 cup half-and-half

1 egg, beaten

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, salt. Stir in oil, half-and-half, and the egg. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened. (Don’t overmix!) Pour batter into a greased 8-inch square pan and bake in a preheated 400° oven. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cleo Coyleis the pen name for a multipublished author who collaborates with her husband to write the Coffeehouse Mysteries. Although they did not meet until adulthood, Cleo and her husband had very similar upbringings. Both were children of food-loving Italian immigrants; both grew up in working-class neighborhoods outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and both held blue-collar jobs in food service before moving to the Big Apple to begin their postcollege careers: Cleo as a journalist and children’s book author; and her husband as a magazine editor and writer. After finally meeting and falling in love, they married at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas. Now they live and work in New York City, where they each write books independently and together, cook like crazy, haunt local coffeehouses, and drink a lot of joe. Among their many co-authored projects are the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, written under the pen name Alice Kimberly.

Cleo enjoys hearing from readers.