Haute Cuisine

AMC Outdoors, Web Exclusive, October 2005

Frank McClelland, chef and proprietor of award-winning Boston restaurants L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre, spends a weekend every year with his staff, foraging near and cooking at Carter Notch Hut. He offers these recipes for AMC enjoyment:

Carter Notch Coq au vin

Ingredients:

• 2 2-3 lb. Chickens, cut into 8 pieces
• Flour, about 1/2 cup
• Salt and Pepper, a few tablespoons each
• Butter, 2 oz.
• Brandy, 4 oz.
• Bouquet garni:
  
• • 1 carrot, rough chop
  • 1 leek, split in half
  • A few sprigs of fresh thyme
    
• 10 garlic cloves
• 24 oz. red wine
• 8 oz. chicken stock
• 4 oz. bacon, cut into small pieces
• 18 pearl onions, peeled
• 2-3 lbs. mushrooms freshly foraged along the trail (many types of boletes, coral mushrooms, chanterelles, hedgehogs, oysters), quartered

Method:

1. Cut each chicken into 8 pieces and season with salt, pepper, thyme, and crushed garlic.

2. Heat the butter in a braising pan; brown each piece, sprinkling flour in the pan while cooking- don't overcrowd the pan.

3. Add the brandy and ignite. When the flame dies, add the bouquet garni, more garlic, red wine and chicken stock. Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer.

4. Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 40 minutes.

5. In a separate pan, sauté the bacon until the fat begins to render. Add the onions and sauté until they begin to turn brown. Cook the bacon and onions covered over low heat until the onions are tender. Add the mushrooms and cook them until tender

6. Remove the chicken from the pan and adjust the sauce's consistency with beurre manie (a mixture of 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. flour mashed together). Strain the sauce through a sieve and adjust the seasonings. Spoon the bacon, onions and mushrooms onto a serving platter, place the chicken over them and ladle the sauce over the finished dish

Appalachian Berry Cobbler

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 4 cups wild harvested blueberries
• 4 cups wild harvested raspberries
• 1 cup sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp. Cornstarch
• 1 1⁄2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1⁄2 tsp. salt
• 1 stick of cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1⁄2 cup light cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix the blueberries and raspberries together with 3⁄4 cup of sugar and lime juice.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, 1⁄4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt.

4. Add butter and mix until crumbly.

5. Slowly incorporate cream until mixture comes together.

6. Pour berry mixture into a 9 x 11 baking dish.

7. Top the mixture with spoonfuls of batter.

8. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

9. Let set for 10 minutes.