Provencale Chicken Stew
| Category: |
Main course |
| Dish type: |
Meat |
| Preparation method: |
Cooked |
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| Diet: |
Healthy-Mediterranean |
| Basic ingredients: |
Chicken, Mastiha, Olives |
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Ingredients/Preparation:
1 (4 ½ pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces and skinned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped red onion
½ cup chopped shallots
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons diced lean smoked pork or Canadian bacon
3 cups chopped plum tomatoes, with their juices
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup Mastiha liqueur
2 bay leaves
1 scant tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
½ cup Nicoise or small Greek green olives, pitted, rinsed and drained
½ cup chopped fresh basil
Instructions/Description:
Wash and pat dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat the olive oil in a large, wide pot over medium-high heat and brown the chicken in batches. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and shallots, and brown lightly. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add the smoked pork and cook for about 1 minute. Place the chicken back in the pot and add the tomatoes, broth and liqueur.
Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the bay leaves and thyme, and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 45 minutes. About halfway through cooking, add the olives, and about 5 minutes before removing the pot from the heat, add the basil.
This is an awesome chicken dish, from Diane’s new book, “Mastiha Cuisine.” Mastiha liqueur is used in place of white wine in what is otherwise a very typical Provencal entree. A couple of notes: mastiha crystals must be pounded in a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder) but they should be done so with the addition of a bit of salt if you are making something savory and with sugar if you are making something sweet. Just half a teaspoon of ground mastiha goes a long way, so use judiciously.
Recipe: Diane Kochilas
Source: N.Y. Daily News