Chicken Provençal
Braised chicken thighs, tomato, herbs de Provence and olive and caper.
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The skin-side-up trick during braise is the whole game - chicken poaches in the sauce from below, but the skin stays partly dry so it crisps instead of going flabby. Don't fully submerge it.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 2 lbbone-in skin-on chicken thighspatted very dry
- 1 mediumyellow onionthinly sliced
- 5garlic clovesthinly sliced
- 1 cancrushed tomatoes (canned)
- ½ cupchicken stock
- 1½ tspherbs de Provence
- 2bay leaves
- ½ cuppitted kalamata oliveshalved
- 2 tbspbrined capersdrained
- 1lemonzested, then halved
- ¼ cupfresh parsleychopped
- ¼ tspred pepper flake
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1½ tspkosher salt
- ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 540calories
- 38gprotein
- 16gcarbs
- 34gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Pat chicken very dry - wet skin won't brown. Season both sides with 1 tsp salt and pepper.
- Thinly slice the onion. Thinly slice 5 garlic cloves.
- Halve the kalamata olives. Drain the capers.
- Zest the lemon, then cut in half. Chop a small handful of parsley.
Sear chicken
Heat olive oil in the dutch oven over medium-high. Lay chicken skin-side down and sear undisturbed 6-7 min until the skin is deep golden and releases easily. Flip, sear 2 min more, then transfer to a plate. Pour off all but 1 tbsp of fat.
9 min · hands onSoften aromatics
Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion and cook 5 min until soft and translucent. Add the sliced garlic, herbs de Provence, and red pepper flake; cook 1 min until fragrant.
6 min · hands onBuild sauce
Pour in the crushed tomatoes and chicken stock; add bay leaves. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom - that's where the flavor lives. Bring to a simmer.
3 min · hands onBraise
Nestle chicken back into the sauce, skin-side up so it stays partly above the liquid (keeps the skin crisp). Cover and simmer gently 30-35 min until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender.
33 min · hands offFinish
Stir in the olives and brined capers. Squeeze in the juice of half the lemon; taste - adjust salt (the olives and capers are salty, you may not need more). Scatter parsley and lemon zest. Serve with bread, polenta, or mash.
2 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Sear 3 min/side; braise covered 20 min instead of 35. Saves about 10 minutes.
Breast dries out faster - braise 25 min and check temp at 160°F. Saves about 5 minutes.
Press 1.5 lb extra-firm tofu, cube, sear 2 min/side, add to sauce at the simmer step. Saves about 15 minutes.
Boil 1.5 lb yukon golds and mash with butter and a splash of cream. Adds about 20 minutes.
What keeps
Tastes better day 2 - the chicken keeps drinking in the tomato and olive brine. Keeps 4 days in the fridge, freezes 2 months.
Reheat covered on low; loosen with a splash of stock if it tightens.
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