October 28th Week Dinner Planning 2013

October 28th Week Dinner Planning 2013

Taking inspiration my beautiful wife I have three recipes ideas planned for this week and I would like to take you along on my journey as we explore various different versions of them, choose what we are going to do, and then see what the result turns out to be.

The three inspirations are as follows: Vermont Common Cracker Chicken with Cracker Custard Sauce, Basque Chicken and Shrimp in Wine, and Navajo Tacos.  The basic inspirations for these meals came from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America.

Bouquet Garni

My mother used Spice Islands Bouquet Garni in so many of her dishes that it just became a staple.  This post will describe the mixture, and where and how I use it.

Unfortunately, Bouquet Garni as a spice mixture is no longer made by Spice Islands, so if you want to buy it you will have to look at other brands.  (More on that later.)

My mother had a set of cookbooks called The Gourmet Cookbook, published by Gourmet Books, Inc.  I have the revised edition, first published in 1965 (though my version is from the Ninth Printing, 1981:

This book used Bouquet Garni a lot, and described it thusly:

Bouquet garni is the French term for a bundle  or faggot, of seasoning vegetables and herbs, tied with string for easy removal from the pot.  the bouquet garni usually includes celery, thyme, and bay leaf, and some times includes fennel, leeks, marjoram, tarragon, and other herbs and vegetables as specified or as desired.

Wikipedia tells us this:

The bouquet garni [bukɛ ɡaʁni] (French for "garnished bouquet") is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly used to prepare soup, stock, and various stews. The bouquet is cooked with the other ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption.
There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may also include parsley, basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory and tarragon. Vegetables such as carrot, celery (leaves or leaf stalks), celeriac, leek, onion and parsley root are sometimes included in the bouquet.

Sometimes, the bouquet is not bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet, a net, or even a tea strainer, instead. Traditionally, the aromatics are bound within leek leaves, though a coffee filter (or cheesecloth) and butcher twine can be used, instead.

Most defnitions include the idea of tying them together, or putthing the herbs into a satchel.  The Bouquet Garni I use is actually a spice mixture which you just shake or measure into your recipe.

The version is use comes from The Spice House:

Literally meaning a bouquet for garnish, this mixture of basil, marjoram, rosemary, summer savory, thyme, tarragon, Greek oregano, Dalmatian sage and dill weed 

So that's what I use.  The best way to get the most arromatic experience from it is to melt some butter, add diced onions and a bit of fresh chopped garlic, and then sprinkle the onions and garlic with this mixture.  The smell is amazing and the rich taste superb!