Caneton Au Muscadet Recipes

CANETON AU MUSCADET

Steps:

• Rub the duckling well with salt, a little ground ginger, and ground cloves. Place on a rack in a roasting pan and roast in a 325°F. oven for 1 1/4 hours. Remove duck from oven and place in a deep iron casserole. Pour warmed cognac over it and ignite. Add Muscadet, onions stuck with cloves, carrots and beurre manié. Blend. Return to oven to cook for 30 minutes, basting duck occasionally with liquid in casserole.
• Meanwhile peel and slice the potatoes and brown them well in the butter. They should cook until they are just soft but crisp around the edges and on the outside. Shake the pan from time to time to keep them from sticking on the bottom. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Add the raisins to the duck mixture in casserole and cook for a further 10 minutes, basting once. To serve, arrange duck on a hot platter and surround it with potatoes. Pour a little of the sauce over the duck and serve the rest in a sauce boat.
• With this, drink chilled Muscadet.

CHICKEN IN MUSCADET SAUCE WITH ARTICHOKES

Steps:

• Put 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy casserole pan. Melt it on a low flame. Place the chicken pieces in this with the fat bacon or salt pork that have been simmered 5 minutes in water. (The salt pork might be too salty. You want 1/4" matchstick sizes, or thick bacon.) Cook this until it's beginning to brown, then add the onions.
• Brown this some more, then add 3/4 of the bottle of wine. Put aside the rest of the wine. Season, and add the bouquet garni. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and put the lid on the casserole. Simmer about 40 minutes.
• Now, prepare the white sauce, or finish a prepared white sauce. Remove the very soft leaves around the hearts of the artichokes using a small spoon, and whizz them in a food processor, or just chop them super-fine. Add this to the prepared white sauce to which you have added the rest of the bottle of wine. Whip this mixture with a wire whisk, add the nutmeg, and keep it hot.
• When the chicken is cooked, after 1 hour or so, put the pieces on a large, deep platter. Arrange the artichoke hearts and cauliflower florets around the edge of the platter. Keep warm.
• Reduce the liquid in the casserole by half. Add the white sauce. Blend in the creme fraiche or sour cream, without boiling it.
• Pour this over the chicken and vegetables, sprinkle parsley and croutons over the top.
• The chicken and vegetables shouldn't be swimming in sauce, but there should be enough sauce to keep everything moist.

BEST MUSCADINE JAM

Steps:

• Prepare grapes by cutting partway through the skin and popping the pulp/seed capsule out of the hull. Put pulp into one pot and the hulls into another.
• Simmer the pulp, covered, on low-medium until soft enough to press through sieve or food mill ~ 10 minutes. Add just a little water if necessary to prevent sticking.
• Meanwhile, chop hulls very finely in the food processor and return to their pot. Add just enough water to make it possible to simmer without sticking. Cook slowly, covered, 10 minutes or until hulls are softened.
• Peel lemon and chop peel finely. Use entire peel, including the white part, to ensure good jelling.
• Juice the lemon.
• Press pulp through a sieve or food mill to remove seeds. Stir sieved pulp into cooked hulls in a large pot.
• Add lemon juice and peel. Bring to a boil.
• Stir in sugar and return to a boil.
• Simmer, stirring frequently until the jellying point is reached ~ 1-2 hours. Timing is approximate and will vary depending on conditions and the amount of natural pectin in the fruit. Check frequently.
• Pack into hot, sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.