Chicken Bouillabaisse
I love the Provençal flavors of saffron, garlic and fennel and didn't see the need to re-master much in this recipe. I used a bit more garlic and added fresh fennel to the vegetables, as I'm sure Julia would have if it had been readily available in the States in 1970. I also decided to throw a sweet, juicy orange into the poaching broth - it adds fragrant acidity and a touch of sweetness.
Equipment
- 1 oven
- 1 pan
- 1 fork
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion sliced
- 1 fennel bulb trimmed and sliced
- 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground fennel seed
- ½ teaspoon saffron threads crushed lightly with back of a spoon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cups canned diced or crushed tomatoes
- 3 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 3 bone-in skin-on chicken drumsticks
- Fine sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- About 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 small orange or tangerine halved
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large, deep skillet or in a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onion and fennel slowly until tender – watch the heat so they don’t brown. I like to cover the pot slightly to help them sweat it out.
- Stir in the garlic, thyme, fennel seed, saffron and cayenne and cook for a minute or two, until the mixture is fragrant.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the wine to the pan; cook for one minute and add the tomatoes. Bring to a lively simmer and cook until the tomato juices are reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
- Season the chicken generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Arrange the chicken in the pan, nestling the pieces among and under the vegetables. Pour in enough stock to just barley cover the chicken. Toss the orange halves in the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and transfer to the oven.
- Check the chicken after 25 minutes – it should be very tender when poked with a fork. It not, return the pan to the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve the chicken over buttery couscous with lots of the sauce spooned over. If you can make this a day ahead or save some leftovers, the chicken will soak in the aromatic sauce and it will taste even better!