6 COOK’S COUNTRY • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019“CHICKEN PROVENÇAL”
SOUNDS fancy, doesn’t it? But it’s
just chicken cooked with the signature
fl avors and ingredients of Provence,
the region of southeast France that
borders Italy and the Mediterranean
Sea. We’re talking herbs, wine, olives,
tomatoes, and olive oil —ingredients
that are just as common in the United
States as they are in Europe. Having
long seen recipes for this dish in cook-
books and cooking magazines, I set
out to create a weeknight version that
used common ingredients to elevate
chicken to a new level of deliciousness.
For a dish with such a clear geo-
graphic origin, the recipes I found for
it were surprisingly all over the map.
I had quite a few choices ahead of me:
Should I opt for a whole chicken or
chicken parts? Red wine or white?
Dried herbs or fresh? My fi rst decision
was to use bone-in, skin-on chicken
thighs; their dark meat is moist and
fl avorful, and they cook in much less
time than a whole chicken. I’d sear
the thighs in olive oil, remove them
from the skillet, and then build a base
of aromatic vegetables and tomatoes
that I could use to fi nish cooking the
chicken—basic braising technique.
I started the sauce by sautéing
sweet, thinly sliced shallots. Garlic and
anchovies—minced so they’d disap-
pear into the sauce—were no-brainers
as the next stir-ins, but now I had to
fi gure out how to handle the tomato
component. Canned tomato products
tasted good but brought the dish tooclose to stew territory; my tasters
preferred a version made with a heap
of halved cherry tomatoes, which
wrinkled and released their juice in
the hot skillet. Red wine was a little
too distinct (in fl avor and color) here,
and while white wine was good, we
preferred the more complex fl avor of
dry vermouth in the sauce.
Many recipes with “provençal” in
the name call for herbes de Provence,
the region’s signature herb blend that
typically includes rosemary, thyme,
oregano, and savory. Most versions sold
in the United States also contain laven-
der, which my tasters didn’t care for in
this dish: “Great for soap, but not for
chicken.” After a bit of experimenting,
I found that fresh thyme sprigs pro-
vided plenty of heady herbal presence.
With the sauce built, I returned
the browned, parcooked thighs to the
skillet. I arranged the thighs skin side
up so they peeked above the sauce;
this would help keep the skin nice and
crisp. Then I popped the skillet in a
400-degree oven so the chicken could
cook through. This version was pretty
good, but the tomatoes had released
so much juice that the sauce was too
thin. The solution? Dredging the
raw thighs in fl our before browning
them and adding another teaspoon
of fl our to the sauce ingredients. The
fl our thickened the fragrant sauce just
enough so that it was spoonable but
not runny. This dish was now ready
for the table—and to take a place in
my weeknight rotation.Chicken Provençal
CHICKEN PROVENÇAL
Serves 4 to 6
You can substitute four 10- to 12-ounce
bone-in split chicken breasts for the
thighs, if desired. Simply extend the
cooking time in step 4 to 30 minutes or
until the chicken registers 160 degrees.
You can substitute any dry white wine
for the vermouth, if desired.8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken
thighs, trimmed
½ teaspoon table salt, divided
½ teaspoon pepper, divided
½ cup all-purpose fl our
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 shallots, halved and sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 anchovy fi llets, rinsed and minced
¼ teaspoon red pepper fl akes
12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
½ cup dry vermouth
½ cup fresh parsley leaves- Adjust oven rack to middle posi-
tion and heat oven to 400 degrees. Pat
chicken dry with paper towels. Sprin-
kle chicken all over with ¼ teaspoon
salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Place
fl our in shallow dish. Dredge chicken
in fl our, 1 piece at a time, turning to
coat all sides. Shake to remove any
excess fl our, then transfer chicken to
large plate. Reserve 1 teaspoon fl our;
discard remaining fl our.- Heat oil in 12-inch ovensafe skillet
over medium-high heat until just
smoking. Add chicken and cook until
golden brown on both sides, about
3 minutes per side. Return chicken to
plate, skin side up. Carefully pour off
all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet. - Return skillet to medium heat. Add
shallots to fat left in skillet and cook
until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in
garlic, thyme sprigs, anchovies, pepper
fl akes, and reserved fl our and cook
until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir
in tomatoes, olives, vermouth, remain-
ing ¼ teaspoon salt, and remaining
¼ teaspoon pepper, scraping up any
browned bits. - Return chicken to skillet, skin side
up, and bring sauce to boil. Transfer
skillet to oven and cook until chick-
en registers 175 degrees, about
25 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley
and serve.
For a rustic yet elegant weeknight meal, look
to the fl avors of southeast France. by Alli Berkey
BACKSTORY
Vermouth is simply wine that’s been bolstered
with extra alcohol and botanical fl avorings. It’s
best known stateside as an ingredient in martinis,
but in the kitchen it adds
a complex fl avor and mild
acidity to many dishes. For-
tifi ed wines such as vermouth have been around
for thousands of years, and some varieties can be
traced back to ancient China and Greece.
In the 16th century, German and Italian manufac-
turers began creating and selling a wine primarily
fl avored with wormwood (right), a shrubby plant
with a strong herbal fl avor. The German term for wormwood is wermwut; as this
drink crossed into France it took on the name “vermouth,” and by the time the drink
was popularized in England, the name had stuck. Today, wormwood is banned in
many countries for its mild (some say mythic) narcotic qualities, so contemporary
vermouth makers use a wide array of herbs and plants for fl avor.We use common
ingredients to turn
chicken into a sophisticated
weeknight supper.Liquor cabinet
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