Fricassée de Poulet a l'Ail et l'Ail Confit

Fricassée de Poulet a l'Ail et l'Ail Confit

I should have made this last night. Instead I made another recipe, misreading a step, and well, coming up with something that had it's good points, but needs tweaking.

The recipe below is from Patricia Wells' "The Provence Cookbook."

Fricassee of Chicken with Garlic and Sweet Garlic Confit

• 1 fresh chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 20 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
• 1 1/2 cups white wine (Viognier is recommended)
• sweet garlic confit

Make the confit first. Peel cloves from four heads of garlic (not as bad as it sounds!). Cook the garlic in a saucepan covered with two cups of milk. Bring to a simmer and drain. Return garlic to saucepan and cover with two more cups of milk. Cook over medium heat until garlic is soft. Drain and refrigerate. You can make this ahead of time.

Now for the fricassee: Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy skillet. Brown the chicken, about five minutes on each side. If you use eight pieces, you can do this in batches. I used four breasts, so I was able to do it all at once. When chicken is turning golden, remove and set aside.

Add the garlic cloves to the fat. Reduce heat and add the chicken. Cover and cook for at least 20 minutes, turning the chicken with tongs for even browning and cooking. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan, cover with foil and set aside.

Drain skillet of fat, keeping the garlic cloves in the skillet. Add the wine and the garlic confit. This will deglaze the pan. Cook, uncovered, making a purée from the garlic and wine. Pour the purée over your chicken and serve.

I served it with roasted peppers and the rest of the Viognier, some very heady wine.

This is classic chicken. It tasted the way chicken ought to taste. Tomorrow I'll make a chicken salad with hard-boiled eggs and olives.

The wine We used Pepperwood Grove Viognier, which tastes of melon and peach with an unusual vanilla-custard finish. My husband tasted pear, I tasted lemon.