Provencal chicken and crispy garlic potatoes

Chicken with Provencal herbs and garlic potatoes

Adapted from “Perfect French Country Cooking,” by Anne Willan. This ambitiously titled book is filled with how-to photos, almost more deconstructed photo essay than anything else. It makes the recipes a bit disjointed and hard to follow, kind of like those really annoying food blogs that are so in love with their photography that they can’t resist showing you pictures of drizzling olive oil into a pan, in case you didn’t know how. But given that all the recipes I’ve made from it have been really tasty French comfort food, I’ll forgive the fact that this recipe included three (!) photos showing how to chop shallots. Seriously. Plus, it’s a recipe with a tasty marinade that doesn’t just get discarded at the end, which always seems criminal.

Ingredients

8 pieces of chicken

1 cup white wine

2 shallots, chopped

5 chopped garlic cloves, divided

2 tablespoons herbs de Provence

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup chicken stock

1½ pounds new potatoes, not peeled

Fresh thyme leaves for garnish

Method

Combine wine, shallots, 3 garlic cloves, herbs and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, nonreactive dish. Add chicken, turning to coat and let marinate for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade (reserve) and brown in 2 tablespoons olive oil on both sides in a large, oven-safe  pan such as Le Creuset. You’ll need to do this in two batches. When all chicken is browned, add all chicken back to the pan and toss with the flour, turning to coat and let cook a few minutes. Then add reserved marinade and broth. Cover and bake for 50 to 55 minutes at 375.

Meanwhile, slice potatoes lengthwise into ¼-inch slices. Toss potatoes with 2 cloves chopped garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper. Spread potatoes flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes at 375, turning them half way through. Slices should be crisp and browned, but watch closely toward the end to make sure they don't burn.Serve potatoes alongside chicken and garnish with fresh thyme leaves if desired.

Rating: The chicken is really moist, tender and flavorful, but the potatoes are even better: tasty, crispy on the outside but not dried-out, a really simple way to make awesome potatoes. Next time I think I would remove the chicken to a platter and reduce the sauce a bit before serving. Definitely repeatable.

Tip: If you don’t have herbs de Provence on hand, here’s a link to a good recipe for making your own out of what you have on hand.