CHICKEN AND LOVAGE POT-AU-FEU Here is a complete meal ready in less than 30 minutes… when using a pressure cooker. Stuffing 2 cups raw spinash or kale, chopped ½ cup uncooked rice 1 egg 1 Tbsp. salt 2 Tbsp. chopped herbs 1 1,5 kg chicken 2 cups water 4 baby turnips 4 carrots 2 potatoes 2 branches of lovage 1 bay leaf salt, pepper Combine stuffing ingredients and fill chicken loosely as the rice will swell during cooking. Truss securely with kitchen string or bambou skewers. Place chicken and remaining ingredients in a pressure cooker, season to taste and cook 15 minutes. Or place chicken, water, seasoning in a large stock pot and simmer 1 h. Add vegetables and cook another 30 minutes. To check if the meat is done, prick the chicken between thigh and breast with a sharp knife or skewer. The liquid coming out should be clear. Serve the broth with croutons and grated Parmesan cheese as a first course, then the chicken and vegetables with Gribiche or Romesco sauce. GRIBICHE SAUCE Ingredients 1 hard boiled egg 1 Tbsp. tarragon vinegar or lemon juice 1 Tbsp. French mustard 1 cup olive oil 1 Tbsp. of each - parsley, chervil, tarragon, basil, lovage – chopped 1 Tbsp. chopped capers Mash the egg yolk with a fork and combine with vinegar and mustard. Add oil gradually, beating constantly as for a mayonnaise. Add herbs, capers and chopped egg white. Gribiche sauce is often served with boiled tongue. LOVAGE Lovage is a hardy, ornemental perennial and one of the best culinary herbs. Yet it is seldom grown in gardens. Is it because it grows to huge proportions and, like rhubarb, is almost impossible to move once established ? Or simply because it has yet to be discovered by modern chefs? Greek and Roman cooks used it extensively and 14th century doctors praised its diuretic and stimulant action. An old -fashioned cordial was brewed from lovage, yarrow and tansy. It is the first herb to show green shoots in the spring and the last to disappear in late fall. Young tender leaves can be picked throughout the growing season, to use raw or cooked. Dried lovage retains its strong celery-like flavor and it freezes well. A handful of leaves transforms a plain vegetable soup into a grand minestrone. Raw and chopped, they can be add sparingly – because of the strong taste – to salads, sauces, stews and stuffings. Lovage goes well with fish, especially salmon. After a few years, the plant blooms, sending a long spike over the bright green foliage. Harvest seeds when green for freezing and brown for drying. Crush dried seeds and combine with sea salt for a substitute to celeri salt. Use frozen seeds and leaves to flavor broth, vegetables, fish stock and sauces.