Languedoc Chicken Recipes

CLASSIC FRENCH CASSOULET

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325 F degrees.
• Brown the sausage: In a dutch oven or heavy bottomed sauce pan, brown the sausages whole. I prefer a smaller bite so I dice them up in pieces. Remove them once browned.
• Cook the chicken: Add the chicken breasts to the Dutch oven next, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink and cooked through. Remove and set aside.
• Saute veggies: Add onion, carrot, and leeks to the pot in the residual sausage fat and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Then add the shallots and garlic and saute for an additional minute.
• Deglaze pot: Add the white wine to deglaze the pot, scraping any brown bits from the bottom.
• Finish the cassoulet: Return the protein to the pot and add beans, herbs, water and seasoning. Bring to a simmer then cover and transfer to the oven to bake for 2 hours.
• Garnish with parsley and serve.

CHICKEN WITH PROSCIUTTO AND SAGE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and sear until skin is nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter, skin side up. Reduce heat to low, add fennel and onion to sauté pan, season with salt and pepper, stir in ground sage and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, stir, add stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until potatoes are just about tender when pierced with a paring knife, 15 minutes.
• While potatoes are cooking, tuck a sage leaf under the skin of each thigh. Turn thighs over and season the flesh side of each with salt and pepper, and place 2 sage leaves on each. Roll each thigh into a bundle, skin side out, and wrap in prosciutto, using 2 overlapping slices for each to fully enclose the chicken. Tuck wrapped chicken, seam side down, in among the potatoes in the sauté pan. Add the peas. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, basting chicken with pan juices halfway through.
• Remove chicken to a warm platter and surround with potatoes. Stir vinegar into the pan sauce, add salt and pepper if needed, and pour, including the peas, over and around the chicken and potatoes. Garnish platter with sage and serve.

TRADITIONAL FRENCH CASSOULET RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cover beans with 3 quarts water and add salt. Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse beans and set aside.
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Place stock in a large liquid measuring cup and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Set aside. Heat duck fat (if using) in a large Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add salt pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl, leaving rendered fat in Dutch oven, and set aside. (If not using duck fat, cook pork with no additional fat.)
• Season chicken pieces with pepper (do not add salt) and place skin side down in now-empty pan. Cook without moving until well-browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip chicken pieces and continue cooking until lightly browned on second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to bowl with salt pork.
• Add sausages and cook, turning occasionally, until well-browned on both sides. Transfer to bowl with salt pork and chicken. Drain all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot.
• Add onions to pot and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until onions are translucent but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add drained beans, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, cloves, and stock/gelatin mixture. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce to low, cover Dutch oven, and cook until beans are almost tender but retain a slight bite, about 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, remove carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaves, and cloves and discard. Add meats to pot and stir to incorporate, making sure that the chicken pieces end up on top of the beans with the skin facing upwards. Beans should be almost completely submerged. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, until a thin crust forms on top, about 2 hours, adding more water by pouring it carefully down the side of the pot, as necessary, to keep beans mostly covered.
• Break crust with a spoon and shake pot gently to redistribute. Return to oven and continue cooking, stopping to break and shake the crust every 30 minutes until you reach the 4 1/2 hour mark. Return to oven and continue cooking undisturbed until the crust is deep brown and thick, about 5 to 6 hours total. Serve immediately.

LANGUEDOC CHICKEN

Steps:

• Combine first five ingredients (yougurt through garlic) and mix well.
• Place the chicken quarters in a large zip-top bag or glass dish. Add the marinade and toss chicken to coat well.
• Marinate at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (up to 8 hours), and then remove and leave covered at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Grill over medium heat for 30-45 minutes, turning every 5-7 minutes.