Patricia Wells' Fricasee of Chicken with White Wine, Capers and Olives
When I was a student at UW-Madison in the 1980s, everyone was talking about alumna Jane Brody, the New York Times writer who was making a name for herself writing cookbooks about healthy food.I very much wanted to write about food, but was not sure how to start. I wrote my first “how-to” feature about baking bread, which at that time was one of the few things I knew how to do.
Somewhere along the line, I heard someone say, “Yes, Jane’s doing very well but there’s another grad over in Paris who is doing some interesting things with French cooking.”
That was Patricia Wells.
It took me a while to put two and two together — to connect the name Patricia Wells with the J-school alumna I'd heard about — but I have followed her career and cheered her many successes.
And I’ve made my share of Patricia’s recipes. I have never known one to fail.Sunday we had Patricia’s Fricassee of Chicken with White Wine, Capers and Olives. It's from The Provence Cookbook, published in 2004. I did not have a whole chicken and did not feel like leaving the house to get one, so I used two chicken breasts and halved the recipe, which calls for tomatoes, onions, green olives and capers.
Here is the recipe (scroll down).
It's easy: Season the chicken and brown, then remove from the pan and soften the onions. You then add everything else and simmer over low heat for an hour. I served this with penne pasta flavored with butter, truffle breakings and a dash of grated Gruyere."Ah, the tastes!" my husband exclaimed after the first bite. "And the chicken is so tender."
I've said it before, you cannot go wrong following a Patricia Wells recipe.
Comments
What I have found, Lydia, is that her chicken recipes have depth. The food tastes like chicken, but it has a layered flavor, like a good wine.
This fricasee looks delicious. Capers and olives are favorites of mine.
I guess we sort of follow The Mediterranean Diet here, so those are the ingredients we tend to have.
I also thought some of the Paris recipes were a little high-fat (yes, two cups of cream!) so maybe that's why I've never used it.
My husband reads my blog over the noon hour and he said he became hungry all over again looking at the chicken photos.
I'll give the Paris Cookbook another perusal and report back. LOL.
Are you familiar with the French cook, Lydie Marshall?
We'd rented an apt. from her and Wayne in the 15th many years ago and then rented another one from a friend of theirs in the 13th.
I had the pleasure of meeting Lydie, and she was kind enough to give me an autographed copy of her book, "A Passion for Potatoes." She did own a cooking school in Manhattan, not sure if she still does.
You can go to Amazon, if you're interested, as I recently saw she had a few more cookbooks out. A really nice lady. I should do a blog about her and the cookbook.
P.S. Yes, do a post!
There's something so intriguing about the regional quality of French cooking. I mean, we expect it in America because the country is so darned big. But with France, there's the influence of being butted up against other countries with equally big personalities cuisinewise that flavors various parts of the country.
Yes, that is what I love about France — that connection to other countries. True fusion in the deepest sense of the world. Not just something made up from two countries on opposite ends of the globe.