Chicken And The Wine Sign Says It All!

Need I say more! And yes, I do put wine in a great majority of my cooking. I do not even start my evening meal until I have a glass of wine in hand to accompany me on my cooking adventure for the night! Speaking of adventure, I got hold of Anthony Bourdain's "Les Halles Cookbook" and decided to make his recipe , poulet basquaise. I plan to make a few more recipes from his book and then I will do a post on his book. If you do not know Anthony Bourdain, he is the chef that is on the Travel Channel program No Reservations. He is quite a character and I enjoy his style of writing. More on him at another time. Let's get on with dinner. I was in the mood for something French, but I do believe this has a hint of Italian to it also.

Poulet Basquaise

1 whole chicken about 4 lbs. cut into 8 pieces

salt and black pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper, I used a hugh pinch!

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 red bell peppers cut into julienne

2 green bell peppers cut into julienne

1 onion thinly sliced

16 oz. canned Italian plum tomatoes

1/2 cup of white wine - you know, some of the wine you are drinking right now while preparing this dish!

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup light chicken stock or broth

3 sprigs of flat leaf parsley finely chopped

Season the chicken all over with the salt, pepper and cayenne. Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot add the butter. When the butter has foamed and subsided, add the chicken, skin side down, and brown on that side only! When brown, remove chicken with tongs and set aside on a plate. Add the peppers and onion to the pot and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the wine scraping, as always, to get the good stuff up. Cook until the wine is reduced by half then add the water and the chicken stock. Return the chicken to the pot with their juices. Cover the pot and allow to cook on low heat for about 25 minutes, then remove the chicken to your serving platter.

Crank up the heat to high and reduce the sauce for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the parsley. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately. I served mine with a white basmati rice.

This is so easy and so good! I served the Redwood Creek Sauvignon Blanc that I was cooking with and the match was wonderful!

What a way to start the end of the day!

Cheers!