Braised Chicken

Copyright 2008 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut in half (about 1.5 to 2 lbs.)
3 to 4 carrots, chopped
half a sweet onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, chopped (remove stems and fronds)
2 T Tabil spice blend (see below)
1 bay leaf
2 T flour
½ bottle of white wine
Water as needed
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut your chicken in half down the spine and generously season with salt (I use about half a cup), making sure you rub the salt under the skin and inside the cavity. Leave in refrigerator overnight or at least two hours before cooking.

When ready to cook, remove chicken from refrigerator. Warm a Dutch oven over medium high heat with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then pan-fry the skin side of the chicken to get a nice golden color, about 2 to 3 minutes. You may need to do one half of the chicken at a time. Remove chicken from pot and set aside.

Reheat more oil and then add onions, carrots and fennel. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add flour and spices, just cooking enough to cook off the flour taste (less than a minute). Then deglaze the pan by adding the white wine. Put the chicken parts back in the pan on top of the vegetables, with the skin side up. Add more water if needed to fill the pot so that the liquid level covers the meat of the chicken but not drown it. Add bay leaf and season with about a teaspoon of salt and pepper. Cover and place in oven to cook for 2.5 hours.

When done, the chicken should be falling off the bone when touched with a fork. Place chicken onto plates with some of the cooked vegetables and liquid. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favorite greens.

Makes 6 servings.

Pair with a glass of Riesling.

TIP: The liquid of your braised chicken can be oily because of the chicken skin. So you might want to let your chicken cool a bit and then skim off some oil before drizzling on the chicken. If you’re concerned about getting too much oil, remove the chicken skin before cooking.

TABIL BLEND: Tabil is a blend of spices from Tunisia used in African cooking. If you don’t have a Tabil blend available, you can create it by grinding together garlic cloves, coriander seeds, caraway seeds and cayenne pepper.