First Try Pretty Good Recipes by Ruth Paget
French chef Jacques Pépin’s cookbook Poulets et Légumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetable Recipes contains many recipes that novice cooks can get right on their first or second attempt at making them.
Six recipes that stand out in this cookbook include:
For chicken:
-Roast split chicken with Dijon mustard crust –
The hardest part of this recipe is removing the chicken backbone. You can see how this is done on youtube by typing “how to remove a chicken backbone” in the search bar. You will hundreds of choices to watch. Pépin serves this dish with mashed potatoes.
-Chicken-African-style with couscous
This dish is based on one from Sénégal. The chicken is marinated in an onion marinade that becomes part of the chicken stew. Couscous is served in a mound with chicken surrounding it.
-Chicken and Rice with cumin and cilantro –
This is arroz con pollo that is chicken wings stewed with diced tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and onions served on Carolina long-grain rice.
For Vegetables:
-Steamed asparagus in Dijon mustard sauce
-Fricassé of Brussels Sprouts and chopped bacon -
This is sautéed slices of Brussels Sprouts with chopped bacon.
-Potato Gratin –
The easiest things are often the best. Sliced potatoes baked in heavy cream with Parmesan topping.
Novice chefs will appreciate Jacques Pépin for providing authentic recipes that work well the first time in Poulets et Légumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetable Recipes.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
