A delicious, traditional Acadian meal
Disclaimer: Every Mémère (grandmother) has a varying version of this recipe. My childhood memories of watching my grandmother and her sisters in the kitchen, arguing over exact portions of the ingredients was a prime example. Fricot is such a simple dish, yet so many home chefs changed a little of this and a little of that.
The recipe below is my Mémère’s recipe for fricot, BUT I’m using my cousin’s recipe for the dumplings as I prefer her recipe for the dumplings (I would never tell my grandmother this).
Every week, when you walked into Mémère’s kitchen, there’s a good chance you would smell the delicious dish of fricot. Some call it soup (depending how much broth is added) or stew, but whatever you call it, it’s just really hearty goodness.
My Mémère always made her own homemade chicken broth and even if she cooked her chicken in the fricot, she always used chicken broth over water, but you can easily make it using water.
The magic ingredient for this recipe is the summer savoury. It reminds of herbes de provence, but summer savour is an herb that is commonly used in most kitchens in the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada. It is very aromatic with notes of thyme and marjoram. Summer savoury is versatile and should be in every kitchen!
Lastly, this dish is very imperfect, but that’s exactly what makes it a perfect Acadian dish!
Ingredients
Fricot
- 1 chicken fully cooked and shredded
- 2 to 3 Tbsp butter (30g-45g)
- 1 medium onion (approx 110g)
- 12 cups of water or chicken broth (96oz)
- 4 cups of cubed or diced potatoes (approx 550g)
- 1-1/2 cups carrots, diced (130g-180g)
- 1 to 2 stalks celery, diced (40g-80g)
- 1 to 2 Tbsp summer savoury (to taste)
- Salt & pepper
Dumplings (“pâtes”):
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup cold water
Preparation
Pre-cook chicken, shred into bite size and set aside. Sauté onions in butter until translucent (3-5 minutes). Add stock (or water), salt & pepper, summer savoury, shredded chicken and simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavour of the summer savoury give the Fricot that amazing taste. Then add celery, carrots and potatoes and cook for 17 – 20 minutes or until your knife goes easily through the potatoes and carrots. Mix the dumpling ingredients and 10 minutes before serving, add the dumplings (“Pâtes”) by the spoonful on top of your soup. Let simmer with the lid on the pot so that the dumplings cook evenly. Taste to make sure it is seasoned with enough salt, and enjoy!
