Bonne fête, everyone, or as we say here in the USA, happy Bastille Day! With all the wedding planning going on, July 14 kind of sneaked up on me. This morning, I grabbed Essential Pepin and Julia Child's The Way to Cook and got to work. When I recently posted my chicken with bell peppers recipe, I commented that chicken is a real workhorse in a busy person's home. With a little French technique, it's easy and inexpensive to turn a few pieces of chicken into a nice dinner. Pepin, in particular, seems to be a master of the humble chicken.
While in the past, I've tended to recreate some classic French dish for Bastille Day, I went with something of my own creation this time, loosely based on my reading from this morning. Julia Child writes that the Provençal style involves olive oil, tomatoes, and garlic. Since Provence is located in southeastern France, next to Italy, this makes a lot of sense. Since Ariel is a huge fan of mushrooms, I decided to add these, as well, positioning my dish as a tomato-forward variant of poulet chasseur, or "hunter's chicken." Interestingly, other countries also have dishes with the "hunter" label, including Italy's chicken cacciatore and Germany's jägerschnitzel, which I covered last year. I chose to serve it with cavatappi pasta, Ariel's favorite, but rice, potatoes, or any other kind of pasta would work well. As a side, we had sautéed string beans from our farm share.
To add a little French revolutionary history, chasseur was the name given to the light troops in Napoleon's army, who served as scouts and skirmishers. The chasseurs à cheval were one of the most distinguished regiments in the Garde Impériale, and the emperor himself was known to wear their uniform on campaign.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs
- 1 onion, diced (about 1/2 lb.)
- 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
- 6-8 cloves garlic, grated or minced (dependent on size)
- 1 Tbs flour
- 2/3 c dry white wine
- 1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
- 2 tsp Herbes de Provence
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 lb. pasta (optional)
Instructions
Dice the onion, rinse and slice the mushrooms, and grate the garlic ahead of time. Gently break up the tomatoes with fingers.
In a large sauté pan, heat some olive oil on medium-high heat. Pat the chicken dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the pan, skin side down, and cook until the skin is crisp and releases easily from the pan. Flip over and cook a few more minutes, until lightly browned.
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| Chicken after flipping |
Set the chicken aside (it will not be fully cooked yet) on a plate. Turn the heat to medium and add the onion and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and sauté a few minutes, until softened. Add the flour and garlic. Stir well and cook a few more minutes. This will form the base of the sauce. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cook down briefly. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and the herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil and reduce to thicken for about 5 more minutes. (Note: I forgot to do this, and reduced at the end. This is fine, too).
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| Ready to simmer |
Return the chicken to the pan. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the chicken is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. If serving with pasta, now is the time to cook it, timing according to how long it takes to cook.
To assemble a portion, place a layer of pasta, dish out some sauce, making sure to get a good mix of tomatoes and mushrooms, and add a piece of chicken on top.
