Receta Chicken La Tulipe a la Monte
This Valentine’s Day, we bring you the Valentine’s
advice of one Jonathon Reynolds. Mr
Reynolds, who wrote for talk shows helmed by David Frost and Dick Cavett, first
brought the recipe to the New York Times in 2000. It was from a beloved and romantic Greenwich
Village restaurant called “La Tulipe”. Mr. Reynolds,
a bachelor, discovered that a man cooking for a woman was wildly seductive. He never claimed to fully understand the
phenomenon but he reported that “perhaps it’s the surprise, or the role
reversal…or the implied altruism – he’s taking the time to whip up that
bavorois just for me—but every woman I’ve asked claims that a man cooking
specifically for her is an aphrodisiac.”
I’d like to point out that the Times also tested among men cooking for
men and women cooking for women and it had the same effect. So if you want to impress, make this dish and
you’ll have people falling all over you. Or at least, one special person.
Then again, who doesn’t love a great roast chicken,
especially if you’ve achieved that crispy brown gold perfection of skin under
which hides tender-to-the-bone meat. This
version gilds what would be a remarkably good roast chicken all by itself. It adds mushrooms and cognac to a cream sauce
that makes the whole dish seem far more sophisticated than any old roast
chicken. And don't be put off by the time this recipe takes. A good portion of it is while the chicken roasts and you and your love interest enjoy a drink or two. La Tulipe, the source of the original recipe, was
awarded 3 stars by the New York Times for its cooking. La Tulipe was one of those Greenwich
Village restaurants that you entered by going down a few steps and into the
base of a New York City Brownstone. It
was extremely small. You walked through a little bar, reminiscent of Paris, and
then were ushered even further back to a cluster of tables in a chocolate
colored room with pretty tulip sconces and flower arrangements, more often than
not, of tulips. A couple named John and
Sally Darr owned the place and Jonathon Reynolds among its many fans was Julia Child herself. John
Darr ran the front of the house and Sally never emerged from the kitchen where
she cooked and took her time doing it.
The waits were notoriously long.
But you were rewarded with a very romantic dinner experience until the
place finally closed in 1991. I followed the recipe almost to a T. However, I was more than sticker-shocked when
I went to buy the requested dried Morel Mushrooms. One and half ounces cost
$29.95. But take heart, I found a
substitute that was just fine and we didn’t miss the morels at all. I used dried Shiitakes, 3 .1/2 oz packages of
which came to 9.49 at http://www.melissas.com/Dried-Shiitake-Mushrooms-p/599.htm. Here is the recipe:
Chicken
a La Tulipe a la Monte
Yields two servings. Total Time 1 hr. and
45 minutes. 1 ½ ounces dried shiitakes or other dried
mushrooms
2 tablespoons Cognac
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 ¼ cups light cream or creame fraiche, divided
1 3 1/2-pound chicken, rinsed (neck, giblets
and liver removed)
1 teaspoon salt, divided in half
Pinch of
cayenne
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup dry white wine 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and let mushrooms
soak in Cognac 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid.
2. Sauté mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter
for 5 minutes; then add 1/2 cup light cream and reduce by half. Stir in 1/2
teaspoon salt and the cayenne.
3. Rub chicken with remaining butter and
sprinkle with remaining salt and the pepper. Spoon mushrooms into the body cavity.
Roast chicken on one side for 15 minutes, baste and then roast on the other
side 15 minutes and baste again. Finally, roast it breast side up for 20
minutes.
4. Remove chicken from the oven. Throw away
most of the fat from the pan, add the wine and mushroom-y Cognac, deglazing,
and flambé immediately. Reduce over high heat.
5. Shake mushrooms and juices from the chicken
into the pot, add 3/4 cup light cream and simmer for 5 minutes, until
thickened. Taste for seasoning.
6. Cut the chicken into 8 serving pieces,
arrange them on the platter and pour the mushroom sauce over them.