Last updated on October 5th, 2018
Ahhh… the name of this dish alone sounds impressive.
It conjures images of a ‘Lady’ of refinement – dazzling in the kitchen over this classic French, yet provincal one-pot dish. At least, in my mind anyway.
Of course, this culinary feat has been on my ‘must try’ list for quite some time.
The Julia Child version does seem at best, daunting.
One part of the recipe says: “saute lardons or bacon fat in butter” – be still my heart. Literally.
Even better, “averting your face…ignite with a lighted match…” – um, how about, no?
This is just chicken in wine. My high school French language classes aren’t that far gone and neither am I. Why do I need to burn down my (brand new) house to make this?
Perhaps it is that the French have a fascination with fire, and here in the desert southwest we prefer our food to burn from within.
Barring this seemingly negligent culture shock on my part, I pulled out my Dutch oven and got to work the next best ‘Wino Chicken’ recipe I could find – a slightly more modernized version by Ina Garten.
My apologies to Julia.
Overall, while quite flavorful the dish came out with a funky purple appearance and I couldn’t wrap my mind around red wine and chicken. I suppose this is why we can’t have nice things after all.
[As an aside: The Barefoot Contessa – Ina Garten, is one of my favorite chefs. As it turns out, she’s a nerdy woman (like me), an Emmy winner (not like me – darnit) but seriously, this woman is amazing in the kitchen and keeps things remarkably simple.]