When planning a cost-effective menu that will have your family and guests raving, a well-prepared chicken dish should be at the top of your list. Throughout my culinary journey from Denmark and Italy to Japan and Australia I have collected a wide variety of dishes. That said, I still come back to dishes prepared when growing up in a truly-inspirational family kitchen. I hope you’ll try these dishes at home and let us know how they were received.
Coq au vin
My mother Ann is a great cook. Some of my earliest kitchen memories are watching her braise oxtail or poach escargot in butter OR make coq au vin. The traditional preparation is to use a rooster(coq) and braise that in a mixture of stock and red wine(vin) to break down the birds tough connective tissues. At the Flora Butcher, we have wonderful little chickens sourced out of Hattiesburg Mississippi that take this dish to another level of tenderness.
I use one small chicken(2 ½-3 lb) for this recipe which is perfect of two so double or triple the recipe if you are serving a group.
4 oz Applewood Smoked Bacon Lardons
15 Pearl Onions, peeled and trimmed
1 Chicken cut into 8 Pieces
All Purpose Flour, to coat
1 cup Pinot Noir (because that’s what I drink, you can use almost any red wine)
3 cups Homemade Chicken Stock (recipe follows)
1 Bay Leaf
1 Large Sprig of Fresh Thyme
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
¾ lb small New Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
Begin by rendering your lardons in a large nonstick skillet. Lardons start with thick cut bacon slices, then cut them about the thickness of a pencil to create a little ¼ inch by 1-1/2 inch strip. They are one of my favorite ingredients.
Remove the bacon after it gets to the point that you want to start eating it and set it to the side but leave the fat in the pan.(double the amount of lardons if you are anything like me and can’t resist eating them) In the fat, place the pearl onions down on the stem end and cook on medium until they have a nice caramelized bottom. Then flip and do the same to the other side. Remove and add to the lardons while keeping the fat in the pan. Season your chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. On medium high heat, brown off all of the pieces of chicken in the bacon fat.
In a heavy pot, heat the wine, stock, bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Once at a gentle simmer, add the bacon fat, chicken, lardons, new potatoes and onions. Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to add extra chicken stock to cover everything. Place a lid on the pot and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Test for doneness before you stop cooking. The meat should be very tender. I always check the legs to see if it will pull right off the bone. Because timing can be tricky with different sized birds, you can make this well ahead of time and then heat it up when it’s time to serve.
If you are a slow cooker kinda person. You can do the same recipe but it will take about 5 hours or so. Again! It’s a great dish to get ready early and then heat up when your guests arrive.
Chicken Saltimbocca
Want to impress your friends and family with minimal effort? Well then I have a dish for you! Saltimbocca(jumps in the mouth) combines the fresh, herby sage and the salty prosciutto Traditionally this is made with veal but we Americans figured out that the core idea works well with chicken as well. I use only the breast for this dish. Airline breasts are the most visually appealing but must be boneless and skin on either way.
1 Airline Breast (per person), Pounded out with a meat mallet
Salt and Pepper
2 large, fresh Sage Leaves
1 large slice or Prosciutto
All Purpose Flour to coat
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
Season your pounded out chicken breast lightly with salt and pepper. With the skin side down, place you sage leaves on the chicken and place your prosciutto slice on the breast. Curl in the pieces that overlap. Cover with plastic wrap and continue to pound out the chicken a little more. This step to make sure that the prosciutto adheres to the chicken so you don’t need to flatten the breast out any further.
Turn you oven on to 375 degrees. Heat up the butter in a nonstick pan. Gently dredge the breast in flour and place in the pan with the prosciutto side down. You only want to cook the prosciutto enough to render it a little. About 2-3 minutes. Flip the chicken and put the pan in the oven(if you don’t have a metal handled pan, use a cookie sheet with a little extra melted butter)
It depends on the size of the breast for cooking but airline breasts are handy this way. The last part to cook is around the bone so you can tell by looking at it if it is finished. The meat will be white with no sign of blood.
I could eat saltimbocca with anything, but here, we have paired it with The Flora Butcher creamed spinach and some thyme roasted potatoes, lardons, walnuts and Wagyu demi glace.(had to get Wagyu in there somewhere)
Chicken Confit
If you are a whole chicken buyer, like myself, you may find more recipes for the breast than the leg and thigh. This is good news because you can now make your own chicken confit! To “confit” something is an old technique to preserve meats in fat. It is a small process but worth it. The tender, slightly salty chicken can be used on anything or just crisped up for dinner. I have used shredded chicken confit on just about everything. Amazing in wraps, sandwiches, pasta dishes, on salads, even pizza.
4 pounds, bone in, Chicken Leg Quarters
4 Tablespoons Kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole Black Peppercorns
10 Garlic Cloves
2 large sprigs of fresh Thyme
2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
2 quarts Duck Fat,(you can substitute blended oil for this if you need)
Mix everything but the duck fat and chicken together and put a layer in the bottom of a plastic container. Lay the chicken in and layer the salt mixture between the pieces. Cover and put in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, brush off the salt mixture from the chicken, garlic and herbs. Place in a casserole dish and cover with the duck fat. Even with the duck fat you may need to add a little blended oil to cover. Place a layer of tin foil over the dish and bake in the oven at 250 degrees for about 3 hours. The meat should be very, very tender when it’s done.
Set the dish on the counter and allow if to cool. Once manageable, pull out the chicken as gently as you can. At this point, you can shred the meat for a tasty add on to a myriad of dishes or save it to roast for a main course.(if roasting, I turn the oven all the way up and then cook the leg quarter until the skin looks pretty)
Chicken Stock
Lots of different chicken dishes sometimes leaves bones and you should take advantage of that. Chicken stock is the most versatile and you quickly find yourself making homemade soups or just sipping the warm broth between meals.
Leftover Chicken Bones
The tops and bottom off of a bunch of Celery plus 1 Rib
1 large Onion cut into quarters
1 Carrot, rough chopped
2 Bay Leaves
1 large sprig of Thyme
Parsley, stems only from one bunch
4 Garlic Cloves, smashed
1 Tablespoon of whole Black Peppercorns
Cold Water to cover
Take whatever bones that you have leftover and roast them in the oven at 400 until browned but not dark. Allow to cool and place in a large pot. Add cold water and the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer very slowly. Once simmering, allow to cook all day but at least 4 hours.
Remove the bones to shred any remaining meat off of them for soups. Strain the herbs and veggies out and cool the stock down at once.
Starting with cold ingredients should pull the most flavor out of them and into the stock. Discard the veggies and herbs
