A few weeks ago we were watching Top Chef and somebody made a "fricassee" and the judge remarked "I can't believe you made a fricassee in just 30 minutes!" or something like that. To which I said, "What the heck is a fricassee?" I remembered the word from one of my favorite childhood books, Caddie Woodlawn ("If at first you don't fricassee, fry fry a hen!") but had no idea what it really meant. So when I saw a recipe in last week's food section of the Washington Post called Not Enough Thyme Chicken Fricassee, I knew I needed to try it - especially since the recipe title was pun-y!
It turned out quite delicious, although there was a thick layer of grease floating at the top of the finished dish which I skimmed off much of. I also removed all the skins before I served it because most had become separated from the meat anyway and were all soggy and unappetizing. I think next time I will just remove the skin to begin with. It was also bordering on being a bit too salty. I did use reduced sodium chicken broth as the recipe called for, but the only tomatoes I had were the normal kind and not no-salt-added. I generously salted the chicken at the start of the cooking and could probably lay off that a bit and just adjust the seasoning at the end if it needed more.
Finally, I served the fricassee over Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joes. It is a mixture of Israeli couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa and was just a perfect complement to the meat and sauce.
After we were done eating, we agreed that we still didn't know exactly how to define "fricassee" - other than "tasty"!
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