Some years ago, I took Janet on a date night to the local community college for a production of Macbeth. Yeah, I know…a RomCom at the movie theater would have been a better choice, but I scored front row seats. Alas, she checked out at the first “A drum…”
Don’t get me wrong, Janet is intelligent…more so than me. And as a very talented violinist and pianist, she appreciates the fine arts. One of the best date nights we’ve ever had was when I took her to see Madame Butterfly at the Kennedy Center. She loved that production. Which is why I thought she would enjoy Macbeth. But…what I learned from the Macbeth experience is that Janet is one of THOSE people. The kind that just doesn’t get Shakespeare.
By the time we got to the opening of Act IV and the infamous “Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble” line, she was in lala land. And yet that line captures the essence of why I wanted a Dutch oven this year for Christmas. Because in the kitchen, there is no substitute for having the right equipment, which is something those three Macbeth witches knew well. And sure, I know Hecate is the boss witch and makes an appearance in the scene as well, but only true Shakespeare nerds would get that.
In my last blog post I shared that Janet gave me a permission slip to buy a Le Creuset Dutch oven for Christmas. Which I did. It isn’t a cauldron, but at 6.5 quarts, it’s pretty darned close, and that’s what I’m calling it. My cauldron. I’ve come across quite a few recipes that call for a Dutch oven in the past, but lacking one I’ve had to rely on my InstantPot or my slow cooker to make them. No longer!
The dish I was most eager to try in my new cauldron/Dutch oven is an Anthony Bourdain recipe that I came across last year. I’ve been working on tweaking Bourdain’s recipe to my palate, but without a Dutch oven I was left to ponder what a difference the proper equipment might make. Well..now I know. It makes all the difference!
The dish is Anthony Bourdain’s Poulet Basque. Poulet is French for chicken, and Basque refers to the Basque region of France, located in the southwest of France along the border with Spain, where the dish originated. Poulet Basque=Basque chicken. No need for a subscription to Rosetta Stone to figure that one out.
What makes this dish unique is the use of piment d’Espelètte to season the chicken. It is a variant of the capsicum pepper that is on the mild end of the Scoville scale, grown in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region of France, and a uniquely Basque seasoning. Personally, having tasted it, I can’t tell the difference between piment d’Espelètte and high quality mild Hungarian paprika (the real thing, not McCormick’s version). Both spices derive from ground up pimento peppers, the difference is terroir. And since I brought back a kilo of paprika from the Budapest Central Market after my last visit to Hungary, that’s what I used in this dish.
I have to admit that when I first started playing around with Bourdain’s recipe, I was concerned using Hungarian paprika would make it taste like chicken paprikash. It doesn’t. Even though the two dishes are made up of mostly the same ingredients, Poulet Basque calls for tomatoes which are not commonly added to chicken paprikash. And the acid in the tomatoes slow cooked in my Le Creuset cauldron change the flavor profile of the finished product into something completely different from what I get when I make chicken paprikash.
Poulet Basque is a peasant meal, a one cauldron hearty and flavorful dish that is economical, and easy to make. It offers simple flavors, but oh so much of them. You start with a whole chicken, the cheaper the better, then add some red and green bell peppers, an onion, some tomatoes, a splash of cheap white wine, and your choice of seasoning. No more complicated than that. I suppose I should use the piment d’Espelètte that Bourdain’s recipe calls for, but honestly, I can’t justify the expense of ordering it through Amazon since my stash of Hungarian paprika works just as well.
You start by breaking down the chicken into its parts. You could cheat and use pre-cut breasts and thighs, but where’s the fun in that? Using a whole chicken gave me an excuse to break out my Billy Baroo Japanese Chef’s knife…reverent kiss…which is far more satisfying than using pre-cut chicken parts. Once you butcher the chicken, season the parts liberally. To be fair I only use the legs, thighs, and breasts. The rest went into my freezer for a future batch of chicken soup and stock…I don’t throw anything away in my kitchen. For seasoning I used kosher salt and pepper, and in lieu of piment d’Espelètte, mild Hungarian paprika from the Budapest market.
With the Dutch oven, this is truly a one pot dish. You coat the bottom of the pot with high quality EVOO and set it on your cook top over medium high heat. As the oil heats up slice up two red and green bell peppers, and one medium sized onion, julienne style. But only if your knife skills are well developed. If your knife skills are like mine, which is to say poor, I recommend doing the veggie prep work before turning on your cook top. Otherwise, you’ll set off your smoke alarm. I know this because…
It doesn’t much matter what type of onion you use…it is a peasant dish after all. Use whatever you have in your pantry. I used a common yellow cooking onion. If you want to add a touch of sweetness you could use a Vidalia onion, but I would recommend against using a red onion. The harsh flavor profile of a red onion would bury the subtle flavors that develop in the dish as it cooks.
When the EVOO is heated, add in the seasoned chicken and brown on all sides. Once you’ve browned the chicken, remove it from the pot and set it aside. The next step is to add the julienned pepper and onion slices to the pot and sweat them for about 10 minutes. As they give up their liquid, they pick up the seasoning that browning the chicken left behind in the Dutch oven. And…the sugars that come out as you heat the veggies caramelize just enough to add some sweetness to the dish.
Although Bourdain’s recipe doesn’t call for it, in my experimentation I’ve found adding dried basil flakes gives the finished product a layer of flavor that makes my palate happy. The only other modification to Bourdain’s recipe I make is to add a tablespoon of mild Hungarian pimento paste. I add in the basil and pimento paste towards the end of the pepper and onion cook time and then let them toast up.
When I’m happy the peppers and onions are cooked up, I deglaze the pot with a half cup of white wine and then add in a 16 oz can of unseasoned diced tomatoes, a half cup of chicken stock, and 3 bay leaves. I use Penzey’s bay leaves because I find them incredibly aromatic. Add the chicken back in, put the lid on the Dutch oven, and pop it into a preheated oven for 3-4 hours.
Total prep time for me was 30 minutes, mainly because my knife skills aren’t all that great. Cook time can be as long or short as you can afford. The chicken will be fully cooked in 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven, but I’ve found 4 hours at 250 degrees in the oven to be ideal. The chicken becomes fall apart tender without getting dry, and it gets infused with all the deliciousness of the peppers, onions, bay leaves, and the basil.
Once the Dutch oven goes into the oven, you can mostly forget about it. Which makes this a great dish to cook up when you have household chores to do. Or shows to binge-watch. I did stir the pot once every hour, just to help the flavors infuse.
A few minutes before you are ready to plate, take the Dutch oven out of the oven and put it over medium heat on your cook top. Mix up 2 tablespoons of flour with ¾ of a cup of water and stir it into the Dutch oven on your cooktop over medium heat to thicken the stew. I’m curious what effect using a proper blonde roux would have on it…future experiment.
You can serve the dish over rice, noodles, or just about any form of pasta…I prefer wide dumpling noodles. And voila! A delicious, one cauldron meal perfect for a Sunday winter dinner. And you’ll have plenty of leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.
Having made this dish in my InstantPot, my slow cooker, and now my Le Creuset cauldron, I can say the Le Creuset is the way to go. A true cauldron would probably be better, but if I tried to cook anything in a cauldron over an open fire in my back yard, my neighbors would be calling the Sheriff’s office on me. And I don’t know if anyone in the Sherrif’s office is enough of a Shakespeare fan to appreciate the homage.
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