Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Redemption

Chicken, chicken, chicken. Constantly we are bombarded with it: fried chicken, Chic-fil-A, chicken chow mein. Tyson frozen chicken patties. At times, I feel as though I never want to eat anything with feathers, ever again. La poulet est tres barbant. Give me your steaks, your pork loins, your escargots, but heaven deliver me from chicken.

And then I am reminded, or gently nudged, in the direction of something wonderful, so simply and elegantly delicious, that renews my love for chicken and the French in one go.

As it turns out, I love both chicken and the French very, very much.

I am a loyal reader of the New York based blog Smitten Kitchen, and find every recipe and anecdote to be more delightful than the last. So when she recently posted a recipe for roast chicken with dijon sauce, the idea stuck in my head and I began craving a flavor profile intensely. My end result is absolutely nothing like the dish that inspired it- it's braised, first of all, and the sauce is made during the cooking, not after- but boy, was it delicious. This is my braised version of Chicken Dijon, classic French country food, which never fails to excite me. And it was an excellent excuse to use copious amounts of The Only mustard: Maille Dijon, in HOT.

I started with split chicken breasts, which, being abnormally large, I chopped in half once more with a meat cleaver. Next time, however, I will DEFINITELY use thighs, just because I like 'em, but you can certainly use whatever pieces you prefer, or butcher a whole chicken and use all of it. I would stick to a bone-in cut, however, because if there's one thing my grandmother taught me, bones just braise better. The flavor will be richer, and the sauce will have more body.

The chicken itself I seasoned simply with salt and pepper, then seared in batches in a large roasting pan with olive oil. Go for brown here: You're not looking to cook the chicken, but to create a beautiful brown skin. Remove the chicken to a plate, then add some butter and sautee your aromatics; in this case, onion and garlic. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour and let that cook for about a minute so your sauce will be nice and thick. Deglaze with some chicken broth, then stir in a couple of LARGE spoonfuls of dijon. I would wager I used about a third a cup, or a half of one of the little fancy dijon jars. Don't fret about using so much of an expensive product; fine mustards lose their potency after a couple of months anyway, and if you don't use it, it will just result in an inferior product later!

Now that you've got the star of the show on stage, add some herbs- I love thyme and rosemary- and some more salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the pan, along with chopped carrots, and potatoes or other root vegetables if you'd like. (I only had carrots, so I only used carrots.) Then cover and place in a 300F oven for a very long time- about two hours, uncovering for the last thirty minutes to crisp the skin a bit.

Now, here is where the magic happens: When you remove your pan from the oven, checking the chicken with two forks for doneness and fall off the bone tenderness, stir in about one cup of cream or half and half. Cream, obviously, is more desirable, because cream is always more desirable, but if you're like me and you drink coffee every day with half and half and that's what you have on hand- then go for it. Gently nudge the cream around the chicken and vegetables to incorporate it into the sauce, then please, please serve. Rice or another starchy side dish will come in quite handy for soaking up all the delightful juices.

Your house will smell heavenly. Your mouth will water. And maybe, just maybe, you'll decide chicken deserves another chance.

Even if you're not so sure about the French.

1 comment:

  1. YUM. Who needs recipes?? Looks so good!

    Also, that last line made me laugh :)

    ReplyDelete