Basque-Style Chicken. Photo by Richard Swearinger
I love Basque Chicken, mostly because I love piment d’Espelette, the wonderfully fruit-spicy-warm ground chile that it’s made from. It’s another great recipe for your braiser (in fact, it’s one of the many great recipes that appears in The Braiser Cookbook
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Here’s how to transform the dish into a lovely dinner party for four.
Slather your favorite cracker with your favorite purchased hummus, and top it with my Tapenade Verte, page 7 of the Bonne Femme Cookbook
• Appetizers
Hummus-Tapenade Crackers (see caption with photo, at right)
• Sit-Down First Course
Silky and Light Potato Soup, page 74 of The Bonne Femme Cookbook
• Main Course
Basque Chicken with Any-Night Baked Rice
•Dessert
Ossau-Iraty Cheese with Cherry Preserves and French Bread
Wine Pairing: If you want a white, go for a Entre Deux Mers, which is made mostly of Sauvignon Blanc, though a little Semillon often helps round it out. For a red, try a Beaujolais Cru, a great get-along/go-along wine that will go with the many flavors in this dish.
Notes:
• Like many braised dishes, this one can be made in advance and allowed to stand for up to 2 hours. Just reheat and serve. You could also make it a day in advance, refrigerate, then reheat to serve.
• Ossau-Iraty is a beautiful Pyrenées sheep’s milk cheese with a complex, nutty-meadowy flavor. In the French Basque country, it’s often served with dark cherry preserves and bread as dessert.
P.S.: Want more great recipes for your braiser? Check out my Braiser Cookbook
($2.99), an ebook. And remember, you don’t have to own a Kindle to read e-books. You can download a free Kindle reading app here:
Nestle the chicken and orange wedges into the rice and veggies and give the exposed chicken skin another sprinkling of salt and pepper. Put the cover on the casserole, put the casserole in the oven, and sit down with a nice glass of white wine.