What the Heck is Fricassee?
My wife found this great looking recipe for Fricassee of Cornish Game Hens in the May edition of Bon Appetit and wanted to make it for dinner. It was easy to prepare and turned out great. In fact, it's one of those recipes you know you will make again and again when friends come over for dinner. What I really liked about it is once the prep is done and you start cooking, you can walk away from the stove and be with your guests.
I know what you're thinking? What the heck is a "fricassee?" I used to think it was some form of swear word you might hear on The Sopranos, "Hey, get your fricassee over here" But it's not. Fricassee (FRIHK-uh-see) is a term for a type of stew most often made with chicken but can also be made with veal, rabbit, or Cornish game hens as called for in this recipe. For the record, I will definitely try this recipe with chicken or veal; it is that good.
A Type of Stewing
When researching the traditional and current methods of making a fricassee, I found this term to be a catchall for a myriad of stewing methods. No wonder it is so confusing for us home cooks to understand what some of these cookbooks tell us. I found some fricassee recipes calling for browning the meat in oil and others saying not to brown the meat but gently cook it in butter. One cookbook said you simmer the cooked meat in a liquid such as stock or wine yet another calls for stewing it with vegetables. The recipe from Bon Appetit, as you will see below, has its own way of making what they call a fricassee that is an alternative to a classic fricassee, but who cares; it turns out great and that's all that matters.
When I told my wife I was writing about last night's dinner she reminded me of the incredible aroma that wafted throughout the house for the entire evening. You know how sometimes you cook something that smells great when you cook it but a few hours later it leaves a "funky" smell in the house. Not this dish. I went out around 10 pm to walk the dog and that wonderful scent of cooked onions, walnuts, and mint still lingered when I came back in.
This recipe calls for processing the walnuts and fresh mint in a food processor. As long as you are going to use your processor for this, you might as well use it to chop the onions and garlic. I know some of you pros out there are going to say, "But RG, you have to hand chop the onions and garlic or the texture will not be the same and it affect the appearance of the finished dish." To them I say, "Phooey". The finished look will be just fine. On the other hand, if you have the time and enjoy the act of chopping and find it relaxing, chop away.
Fricassee of Cornish Game Hens with Walnuts and Mint
Adapted from the May 2002 Bon Appetit
Serves 2 - 6
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 Cornish game hens, cut in half lengthwise
2 medium onions, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon fresh mint (packed)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
Fresh mint sprints to garnish
In a pan that is big enough to hold at least six Cornish game hen halves plus, heat the oil over medium heat. I used a great Caphalon paella pan that my wife gave me for Christmas that is perfect for sautéing the individual pieces and then cooking them all together in the braising liquid. For those of you who don't own such a pan, you may have to improvise. I would try sautéing the individual halves and onion/garlic/mint combination in a large sauté pan or fry pan and then cooking the entire dish in a large casserole pan. Be sure the casserole pan is safe to cook with on top of your stovetop. Alternatively, you may try using a large wide pot that you use for making soups.
You want to sauté the game hens 2 or 3 at a time depending on the size of pan. You want to make sure there is plenty of room in the pan and none of the pieces are touching. Why? Because you want to sauté the game hen halves to a golden brown, not steam them, which can happen if the pieces are too crowded. It takes about 4 minutes per side to brown the halves. When done, transfer them to a plate or bowl and sauté the remaining pieces and transfer them too. (I'm going to assume we are all using one pan to make this dish.)
Add the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. While they are sautéing, process the walnuts and mint in a food processor until the walnuts are finely ground. Stop, take a moment to smell the walnut/mint mixture. It is outrageous. Now add this mixture to the pan with the onions and garlic.
Next, add the tomato paste, wine and 1 cup of water to the pan and stir together. Return the hens to the pan, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn the hens over and continue simmering until the hens are cooked through, about 20 minutes more.
The recipe in Bon Appetite called for removing the hens and keeping warm on a platter covered with tin foil and then reducing the liquids in the pan to create a sauce consistency. I found that this was not necessary and the onion/garlic/walnut/mint was ready to use as a sauce.
We served this dish with couscous and green beans so I plated a hen halve on top of a mound of couscous and poured the sauce on top. The beans were plated on the side. It not only looked and smelled great, the flavor was incredible.
What to do with leftovers?
I'm a big fan of preparing meals that yield great leftovers so I don't have to start from scratch the next night. With this dish, I removed the meat from the leftover hens and added it to the remaining sauce. The next night I added a little olive oil to the sauce, heated it up and served it over pappardelle (a long ribbon pasta measuring 6 - 10 inches and anywhere from 1/2 - 1 inch wide). I'm not sure it wasn't even better than the night before. As Tony Soprano might say, "Forget about it."
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