We had some lovely neighbors over for dinner. I liked this recipe because it's so simple: cured ham, potatoes and chicken with herbs. It's a really interesting meditation on how simple compositions can create wildly complex flavors. The ham in particular flavors the gravy that comes out of the braising liquid, and it's absolutely out of control given how short the ingredient list is.
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken, about 1.7 to 1.8 kg, ready to cook
- 70 g butter
- 200 g Morvan ham, lean and fat, rind removed
- 150 g onions
- 16 sprigs flat-leaf parsley: 12 tied in a bundle, 4 kept for the end
- 800 g small waxy potatoes
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Fine salt and black pepper
Method
- Brown the chicken on all sides in a third of the butter, in a cocotte over medium heat. Take it out and pour off the fat.
- Turn the heat down. Add the rest of the butter, the ham (coarsely chopped by hand) and the sliced onions. Cover and let them soften for 10 minutes, shaking the pot two or three times.
- Put the chicken back with any juice it has given off. Add the parsley bundle and the peeled whole potatoes. Season and cover.
- Heat the oven to 210°C (410°F). Cook the covered cocotte for 45 to 50 minutes depending on the size of the bird. Halfway through, turn the chicken and check the seasoning.
- Carve the chicken into a deep dish and scatter the remaining parsley, finely chopped, over it. Put the potatoes around it, sprinkle with lemon juice and serve very hot.
What I changed
I used homegrown La Ratte potatoes and used Serrano ham in place of Morvan ham, which I can't get locally.