French chicken in a pot. It’s a great way to mix up the Sunday roast chicken. It infuses the chicken with rich flavours and creates an unbelievably delicious sauce.
This is a simplified version of the poule-au-pot. It’s not stuffed. It’s not poached. It’s roasted. But it’s not really roasted because it’s sealed in a pot. Confused? Just go with it. It’s really, really good.
The amazing thing about this dish is how the flavours from the aromatics permeate the chicken. It’s not like anything you’ve ever had. And the sauce. The sauce is nothing more than the juices of the chicken and aromatics. Complex and simple at the same time. To top it off, the aromatics are meltingly tender. It all just comes together in a most unexpected and wonderful way.
Browning the chicken before it goes into the oven is key. It won’t take on colour after it goes into the pot. If you don’t take the time to brown it well, you will have one sorry looking (but still delicious) bird. The sauce will be a lot richer as well. Browning it well renders most of the fat.
Making French chicken a pot takes a leap of faith. But if you get French food, take that leap. You will be glad that you did.
French chicken in a pot
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp butter total
- 3 Tbsp olive oil total
- 1 3-4 lb chicken grain fed, air chilled
- 1 large or 2 medium leeks white portion only, cut into 4 inch lengths and quartered
- 4 large shallots
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 carrots cut into 4 inch pieces
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375F.
- Melt 2 Tbsp each of olive oil and butter over medium heat in a dutch oven large enough to hold the chicken and vegetables.
- Rub the chicken with olive oil then season with salt and pepper.
- Brown the chicken thoroughly, regulating the heat to prevent burning. This will take 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the dutch oven, discard the fat and wipe out the pot.
- Melt the remaining 1 Tbsp each of olive oil and butter.
- Add the aromatics and a good pinch of salt. Salt is critical at this point but you need to be careful not to oversalt at the same time.
- Return the chicken to the pot. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the pot and then cover with the lid.
- Roast for about 1 hour.
- Remove chicken from the pot and place the pot with vegetables and accumulated juices over medium heat to reduce slightly. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
- Carve the chicken into quarters - 2 legs, 2 breasts. Mound a portion of the vegetables in the middle of the plate. Add a few spoonfuls of the sauce and top with chicken.
- Cornichons, dijon mustard and salt are the traditional accompaniments to real poule au pot. They work well here as well.
While a grilled steak can be pretty good I’m not happy unless there’s a sauce. For me, a pan fried steak is where it’s at. A splash of wine, a bit of stock – in this case veal stock – and a couple of flavour highlights and you move into serious territory.
The French have mastered at least 100 different pan fried steak dishes – and yet there’s no grilled steak recipes in the Cordon Bleu at Home…
This is all about the veal stock. Talk to your butcher. Get into the habit of freezing it to have it at hand. Veal stock is about a million times better than beef stock. Maybe 100 million times. It’s the difference between McDonald’s and the best french restaurant in town.
pan fried steak with dijon white wine sauce
Ingredients
- 2 nicely marbled striploin or rib steaks - about 1 inch thick
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup veal stock or chicken stock
- 1 Tsp dijon mustard
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- salt and coarse ground pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375F.
- Heat an oven proof skillet over medium heat. Season the steaks with salt and pepper. Add1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil to the pan until the butter stops sizzling. Watch out - you don’t want the butter to burn.
- Add the steaks and pan fry for about 90 seconds per side then place in pre-heated oven for about 3-4 minutes for rare to medium rare. I can’t predict this for you. Steaks are different thicknesses. Use your instant read thermometer to be certain - 125F is the magic number for beef.
- Remove pan from oven, put a cloth on the handle to remind you it’s screaming hot, and remove steaks. Place pan over medium heat. Add white wine, scraping up any browned bits and reduce to a syrupy glaze. This is called deglazing. Add veal stock or demi-glace and simmer briefly. Whisk in the mustard.
- Off heat, whisk in the remaining 2 Tbsp butter one tablespoon at a time. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning if necessary.
