I got this recipe from SaltShaker. It’s easy to make AND tasty. Dan served his chicken with brown rice, flavored with garlic and basil. I didn’t have that on hand, so I used plain white rice. I also garnished the food with freshly chopped cilantro. I like to garnish. My favorite part was chopping the cilantro and catching a whiff of its scent, as it floated upward from the chopping board. Mmmm, Mmmm, good! Thanks for the recipe, Dan!

Paz

Poulet en Fricasée à la Lyonnaise

Salt Shaker’s (Dan’s) adaptation from the recipe of bistro A l’Alliance, Paris

1 large frying chicken

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped (you could also peel them if you like, I didn’t)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup dry white wine

¼ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of flour

salt and pepper

Cut the chicken into serving pieces and shake in a bag with the flour and a little salt and pepper until lightly coated. Heat the butter and oil (traditionally, a fricasse would be only butter, but I wanted to lighten it slightly – probably didn’t make enough of a difference, but it makes me feel better about it) in a pan big enough to accomodate the pieces all in one layer. When hot, put the chicken in and fry to a golden brown on all sides. Then lower the heat to minimum, cover the pan, and let the chicken cook through – about 20 minutes.

Put the chopped tomatoes in a small saucepan and cook with just a pinch of salt to help them release their juices. Cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat but keep them warm.

Back to chicken – remove the lid, add the vinegar around the edge of the pan to help deglaze the sides, add the wine, the tomatoes, and the cream.

Mix the sauce ingredients together, leaving the chicken in the pan. Cover again, and simmer for about 9-10 minutes. The bit of flour from the chicken, along with the cream, will thicken the sauce nicely. Serve the chicken along with rice (I used brown rice here, the light nuttiness worked really well – and I’d flavored it with garlic and basil). Adjust the seasoning in the sauce and spoon around and/or over the chicken and rice.

I’d say that this serves 4, but it’s so good that it probably only serves 2…