A whole chicken browned and then simmered with small onions, carrots, turnip and new potatoes in stock and water. Served as a main course, with the broth to follow.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is part of the collection’s French batch and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion
- 3 whole cloves
- 5 branches fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 whole chicken
- 12 small boiling onions or shallots, peeled
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 4 medium carrots (250 g), peeled and cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) batons
- 1 medium turnip (220 g), peeled and cut into 1-inch (3 cm) cubes
- 1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt (about 2 teaspoons if the stock is salty)
- Freshly ground black pepper, as needed to season the vegetables
- 10 small new potatoes (400 g)
- 1 quart (1 liter) water
- 1 quart (1 liter) chicken stock, preferably homemade or low-sodium
- 4–5 stalks fresh parsley, plus chopped parsley to garnish
Directions
Key ingredients
Black Pepper · Olive Oil · Salt
- Stud the onion with the cloves. Wrap it with the thyme and bay leaves in cheesecloth and tie it into a bouquet garni.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken breast-side down without moving it, then brown both leg-and-thigh sides, about 15 minutes in all; prop it against the side of the pot if needed.
- Lift out the chicken and brown the small onions, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, turnip, salt and pepper and cook 1–2 minutes, stirring.
- Return the chicken with the bouquet garni, set the potatoes around it, tuck in the parsley stalks, and add the water and stock to cover about three-quarters of the chicken.
- Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then keep at a steady, gentle simmer with the lid partly open for about 1 hour, until the chicken and vegetables are tender. Taste for salt and garnish with parsley.
Notes
Source Adapted from David Lebovitz, “Poulet au Pot (Chicken in a Pot)”, davidlebovitz.com.
A home version, not the old one The traditional dish is made with a poule, a stewing hen, often stuffed, and served in two courses: the bird and vegetables, then the broth with vermicelli. Lebovitz browns a roasting chicken instead and says so. The dish is tied to Henry IV’s promise of a chicken in every pot on Sunday; the exact wording of that promise is traditional rather than documented.
The photo The photograph is David Lebovitz’s own photo of this recipe.