At Le Mouton Blanc in Paris I came face to face with classic French country cooking at its best. The dish is a Norman-style recipe, Poulet Vallée d’Auge, with apples, cream, flaming Calvados, and hard cider, a cooking lesson I will never forget.

Chef Zaccharia Mohamed started in classic form, sautéing the chicken in gobs of butter and then shallots, carrot, and mushrooms, a cup of Calvados that is flamed, and then one liter of hard cider and then cook the chicken for 40 minutes covered; the chicken is then removed to a low oven. He then cooks mushrooms and apples in separate pans, adds a generous helping of cream to the original skillet, cooks it down, and then emulsifies the sauce using an immersion blender. The chicken, mushrooms and apples are reunited along with the cream sauce.

Our goal was to simplify. Brown the chicken and remove it, sauté the apples in the same pan, remove them, and finish up with mushrooms and shallots. Deglaze with Calvados, add hard cider, add back the chicken and into the oven for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter, add back the apples and just a ½ cup of heavy cream and cook down for a few minutes to concentrate.

There you have it. All of the charm and classic techniques of Normandy cuisine in just one pan.

Chris Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."