Waterzooie
May. 11th, 2008 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseThose of you who've known me since I've been playing with the SCA, have probably tasted my Waterzooie at least once. What most of you don't realize was that the very first time I made Waterzooie was for a party at Lucy's and the Professor's house. I think it was the one where the Professor got his Ph.D. I'd eaten Waterzooie before in cafe's in Belgium, but never fixed it. Lucy loved it so much that it is still her requested birthday dinner from me.
My success with this recipe, originally from a book by Nika Hazelton, led me to try other recipes. Later, I began to hold a dinner party every six weeks or so. I learned who among my friends liked what, I began to adapt recipes to my tastes and theirs, I invented recipes of my own.
At a later point we'll talk about cookery books, but for right now, let it suffice that if you pick up a copy of Nika Hazelton's The Belgian Cookbook and looked up Waterzooie, you'd find that the list of ingredients matches, but the quantities don't. I don't know when I began to adapt it, but there you have it.
Waterzooie:
Cut up 4 carrots, 4 celery ribs (leafy center ones are best), the whites of 4 leeks, and an onion. Leeks tend to grow best in sandy soil and they are known for trapping the sand between their layers. Most vegetables are washed, then peeled or cut. Leeks should have their outmost layer removed. Then cut off the dark green bits (you can keep a little of the light green). Removed the hairy-looking root. Then slice. You'll be left with rings which can be thrown into a collander and rinsed thoroughly. The onions should be in about half inch chunks, not a tiny dice. Unless I'm faced with a very fat carrot, I just cut it into half inch chunks as well.
Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and heat with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a very large heavy pan. Add the cut up vegetables, 2 bay leaves, a few peppercorns, a sprig of parsley, and some grated nutmeg (approximately 1/2 teaspoon). When the onions have gone transparent and the leeks and the carrots are beginning to soften, put a whole chicken (5-6 lbs) on top. (Y'all are smart enough to remove the bag with the giblets from the cavity first, right? You can add the giblets -- unbagged and cleaned -- to the pot. It enriches the final dish.) Add 6 to eight cups of chicken broth or veal stock (enough to cover the chicken -- I usually use the minimum amount because that's what my pan will hold, if you need more that's fine, but the texture will be a little thinner). Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn the heat down. Simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours. Carefully remove the whole chicken from the broth and put it on a clean plate or cutting board.
If you want to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe, stop here. Refrigerate the broth overnight and remove the congealed fat layer before reheating.
Scrape the meat off the bones (I use two forks and my hands). These should be large pieces. In general, don't cut them at all. Occasionally, a large collop will peel off the breast bone, but you should be able to split it without cutting it. Discard the skin and the bones.
This is the first place where you have a choice. I usually put the meat right back in the liquid, but you can remove and puree the cooked vegetables for a smooth textured soup. Some people puree half the vegetable and leave the rest whole for a varied texture. I usually just leave it chunky.
Put the meat back in the broth.
To finish it:
If you've interrupted the cooking by preparing it in advance, bring the ingredients back to the boil before putting it on a very low simmer. Beat together 3 egg yolks (the whites can be frozen for meringues or egg-white omelettes) and the juice of 3 lemons (I wrote this for New England lemon buyers. I discovered in California that one lemon may be enough. The key is you need about three Tablespoons of FRESH lemon juice. This is one time RealLemon or a squeeze bottle just won't do). To the egg and lemon mixture add 1/2 cup of heavy cream. (Here's another place where you can reduce the fat. Heavy cream is traditional. Light cream has less fat. I usually use half and half because it preserves the flavor of the chicken better and has less fat. Milk is NOT an option. I don't want to hear about fake creams, OK.) Slowly pour in the mixture stirring the stew to keep it from curdling. By the way, you can put the egg and lemon together and add the cream. You can put the egg and cream together and add the lemon. What you cannot do unless you want a clabbered mess is put the lemon and cream together before adding the eggs.
This is the second place you have a choice. The Waterzooie is now finished, but the oldest and the most modern recipes include a final step -- add 1 cup of chopped fresh parsley (I prefer flat leaf, but curly is fine) or a mix of fresh chervil and parsley.
Serve up.
Belgians usually eat this with French fries, I usually serve it with rice. I've also served it with plain bread. The key to this last is never use sourdough. It clashes with the lemon and everything tastes off.
White wine, Belgian beer, and water are all great with this.
My success with this recipe, originally from a book by Nika Hazelton, led me to try other recipes. Later, I began to hold a dinner party every six weeks or so. I learned who among my friends liked what, I began to adapt recipes to my tastes and theirs, I invented recipes of my own.
At a later point we'll talk about cookery books, but for right now, let it suffice that if you pick up a copy of Nika Hazelton's The Belgian Cookbook and looked up Waterzooie, you'd find that the list of ingredients matches, but the quantities don't. I don't know when I began to adapt it, but there you have it.
Waterzooie:
Cut up 4 carrots, 4 celery ribs (leafy center ones are best), the whites of 4 leeks, and an onion. Leeks tend to grow best in sandy soil and they are known for trapping the sand between their layers. Most vegetables are washed, then peeled or cut. Leeks should have their outmost layer removed. Then cut off the dark green bits (you can keep a little of the light green). Removed the hairy-looking root. Then slice. You'll be left with rings which can be thrown into a collander and rinsed thoroughly. The onions should be in about half inch chunks, not a tiny dice. Unless I'm faced with a very fat carrot, I just cut it into half inch chunks as well.
Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and heat with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a very large heavy pan. Add the cut up vegetables, 2 bay leaves, a few peppercorns, a sprig of parsley, and some grated nutmeg (approximately 1/2 teaspoon). When the onions have gone transparent and the leeks and the carrots are beginning to soften, put a whole chicken (5-6 lbs) on top. (Y'all are smart enough to remove the bag with the giblets from the cavity first, right? You can add the giblets -- unbagged and cleaned -- to the pot. It enriches the final dish.) Add 6 to eight cups of chicken broth or veal stock (enough to cover the chicken -- I usually use the minimum amount because that's what my pan will hold, if you need more that's fine, but the texture will be a little thinner). Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn the heat down. Simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours. Carefully remove the whole chicken from the broth and put it on a clean plate or cutting board.
If you want to reduce the amount of fat in this recipe, stop here. Refrigerate the broth overnight and remove the congealed fat layer before reheating.
Scrape the meat off the bones (I use two forks and my hands). These should be large pieces. In general, don't cut them at all. Occasionally, a large collop will peel off the breast bone, but you should be able to split it without cutting it. Discard the skin and the bones.
This is the first place where you have a choice. I usually put the meat right back in the liquid, but you can remove and puree the cooked vegetables for a smooth textured soup. Some people puree half the vegetable and leave the rest whole for a varied texture. I usually just leave it chunky.
Put the meat back in the broth.
To finish it:
If you've interrupted the cooking by preparing it in advance, bring the ingredients back to the boil before putting it on a very low simmer. Beat together 3 egg yolks (the whites can be frozen for meringues or egg-white omelettes) and the juice of 3 lemons (I wrote this for New England lemon buyers. I discovered in California that one lemon may be enough. The key is you need about three Tablespoons of FRESH lemon juice. This is one time RealLemon or a squeeze bottle just won't do). To the egg and lemon mixture add 1/2 cup of heavy cream. (Here's another place where you can reduce the fat. Heavy cream is traditional. Light cream has less fat. I usually use half and half because it preserves the flavor of the chicken better and has less fat. Milk is NOT an option. I don't want to hear about fake creams, OK.) Slowly pour in the mixture stirring the stew to keep it from curdling. By the way, you can put the egg and lemon together and add the cream. You can put the egg and cream together and add the lemon. What you cannot do unless you want a clabbered mess is put the lemon and cream together before adding the eggs.
This is the second place you have a choice. The Waterzooie is now finished, but the oldest and the most modern recipes include a final step -- add 1 cup of chopped fresh parsley (I prefer flat leaf, but curly is fine) or a mix of fresh chervil and parsley.
Serve up.
Belgians usually eat this with French fries, I usually serve it with rice. I've also served it with plain bread. The key to this last is never use sourdough. It clashes with the lemon and everything tastes off.
White wine, Belgian beer, and water are all great with this.
