Before I settled on cooking through Larousse Gastronomique, I entertained the idea of cooking my way through Escoffier's La Guide Culinaire. I ended up choosing Larousse because it's more comprehensive. Larousse covers a lot of the same territory as Escoffier's Bible--indeed, a lot of the recipes are basically the same--but it also has a lot of modern refinements and techniques. There are a couple of sous vide recipes in the 2009 edition of Larousse, for example.
Alongside all the classic sauces you'd recognise as French--bechamel, demi-glace, espagnole and so on--Escoffier wrote of sauces inspired by foreign cuisine. These appear even in the 2009 edition of Larousse, although some of them have been modernised considerably to include ingredients people from India or wherever would actually use.
The first part of Italian sauce that I needed to take care of was the stock. I still don't have any in the freezer. I bought a couple of chicken carcasses with a view to making siome stock for the next week's worth of Larousse recipes.
The stock done, the rest of the sauce is very simple. You saute some chopped mushrooms, an onion and a shallot and then pour in a bit of stock and a few spoonfuls of tomato paste. The sauce is flavoured with salt, pepper and a bouquet garni. At the very end of cooking, ham is added. I have to say--and I feel a bit dirty for saying this, as I know sauce italienne is a classic French sauce--that it reminds me of two things old Auguste Escoffier probably would've looked upon with disgust: pub chicken <Aussie accent>parrrmas</Aussie accent> and a product heavily marketed on television during my childhood, the 'Chicken Tonight' range of simmer sauces. Then again, maybe if Escoffier was still alive today he'd be marketing simmer sauces, just like all those other celebrity chefs promoting Coles and Masterfoods products.
102. Chicken a brun
Chicken a brun (and chicken a blanc, for that matter) serves as a base recipe for many other recipes in Larousse Gastronomique. It's no more than a paragraph instructing you to saute chicken pieces over a high he so they brown up nicely.
103. Chicken a l'italienne
Once you've sauteed the chicken pieces, you can assemble the dish. Deglaze the pan with white wine and then pour in the Italian sauce. Cook until both the meat and sauce are heated through--although note that the 'chicken a brun' recipe states you shouldn't bring the sauce to the boil at this point.
The photo probably makes it obvious: this dish was nothing to write home about.
104. Macaroni calabrese
Figured I'd try and find a side dish that was a bit more fitting than, say, another variation potatoes with animal fat. The sauce for macaroni calabrese contains roasted tomatoes, pitted black olives, capers and basil. Can't go wrong with that combination, can you?
Because I had the time, I slow roasted the tomatoes: 120 degree oven over the course of the afternoon alongside a couple of cloves of garlic and a wee bit of oregano.
The sauce was nice--I just wish I'd bought an extra tomato or two so I had more of it.
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