Chicken Marengo (Napoleon's chicken), after Julia Child

Cut the chicken into eight pieces: separate leg from breast, remove the spine, cut through the ball joint between drumstick and thigh, trim the joint tip and bony nubs.

Remove the mushroom stems and chop them; keep the caps whole (fluting the caps is optional and was abandoned).

Drop the tomatoes into boiling water for about a minute, core and peel, halve horizontally, squeeze out the seeds, and roughly chop.

Seed and add a couple of canned tomatoes with their juice to the fresh ones.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a braiser and saute the chicken skin side down, leaving out the wings, until browned on each side, about 10 minutes.

Add a quarter cup of white vermouth, cover and cook 10 minutes.

Add about a tablespoon of cognac and flambe.

Add the roughly diced onion and cook uncovered about 10 minutes to soften without browning.

Remove the chicken; degrease the pan if wanted.

Add the chopped mushroom stems, three crushed garlic cloves, half a cup of dry white wine and about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning; cook the wine down a little.

Add the tomatoes and scrape up the fond while simmering. Turn the heat to medium, return the chicken, season with salt, pepper and more Italian seasoning.

Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes so the tomatoes exude their juices.

In a saucepan, cook the mushroom caps in about half a cup of wine, which keeps them white, about 5 minutes; remove before they go soggy and keep warm.

Heat about a cup of olive oil in a small saucepan until very hot but not smoking; deep-fry the baguette rounds a couple at a time.

Deep-fry the eggs one at a time, about a minute each, flipping once; drain on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet.

Fry the shrimp in the shell 1 to 2 minutes, about 30 seconds to a minute per side, until they curl and change colour; drain and keep warm in a low oven.

Brown the baguette rounds in a pan with some of the frying oil, then keep warm.

Taste the sauce and add salt.

Arrange the chicken skin side up, spoon the tomato sauce over, top with black olives, set a bread round between each piece of chicken, a fried egg on every other round, a shrimp on the others, the mushroom caps around, and chopped parsley on each egg.