Foodie Friday: Poulet Chasseur

The difference between braising and stewing is a bit of a distinction without a difference--technically, stewing involves cutting the main ingredient(s) into even, usually roughly cubic pieces and just covering with liquid, while a braise takes on larger, irregular, or whole pieces of meat or vegetable and the liquid is shoulder high, which is to say, your piece of beef or what have you is three-quarters covered only. They produce a fundamentally similar result when cooked properly, which is to say, slowly. No other method of cooking can so successfully blend, harmonize, and mellow flavors into each other.

Poulet chasseur--hunter's chicken--is generally accounted a fall or winter dish, but I like it in late summer, when the herbs are still fresh and the tomatoes at their sweetest after the August heat. In other departures from the orthodoxy, I use red onion in place of shallot, and for this dish I like the smokey flavor of American bacon instead of the traditional lardons. Pancetta works as well and has a nice pepper sweetness, but the smoke of bacon adds a taste of the earth to a rustic preparation, which seems to me to be exactly the character the dish desires. You will need:

1 whole chicken, quartered, backbone, gizzards and trimmings reserved for a small stock
2 cups flour
1/4 lb bacon, roughly chopped
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
3/4 lb whole button or crimini mushrooms
2 lbs fresh tomatoes, peeled and hand-crushed (see below)
1 bouquet garni of celery leaf, sage, thyme, rosemary, and basil
clarified butter
sea salt
ground black pepper

Make a simple stock with the leftover chicken bits and perhaps a single small yellow onion. It only needs to simmer for an hour. Strain. Reserve.

Peel and crush your tomatoes. To peel, use a sharp paring knife to cut out the stems and then to score a cross in the bottom. Drop into a deep pot of rapidly boiling water. When the skins have begun to loosen and peel away--just a minute or two should do--remove with a slotted spoon to an icewater bath. When cool enough to touch, peel away the skins. Crush the tomatoes between your fingers into a large bowl. Reserve.

Mix the flour with a generous few tablespoons of salt. In a deep, heavy pot (a good cast iron Dutch oven will do), heat several tablespoons of clarified butter until very hot. One or two at a time, depending on how large your pot is, dredge the chicken quarters in flour and brown, skin side first, until a deep golden color. Remove and reserve.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of broth. Add the onions, carrots, and bacon. Cook until the bacon begins to render fat and the vegetables soften. Add the tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir together well. Add the chicken. Add about 2 cups of stock. Add the musrooms. Add the bouquet garni. Bring to just below boil, then reduce to a low simmer, cover, and cook for an hour. Remove from heat and let sit for at least 2 hours. Reheat over a low heat until simmering again before serving.

I serve this over a plain, long-grained white rice, although it is also good over a simple lemon risotto or orzo.