french chicken in a pot

a month ago i picked up a martha stewart enameled cast iron casserole from macy's. i've always wanted an entire set of le crueset pots, but they're quite pricey, easily $1,000 for a set of 6 pans. the martha stewart version seems comparable except that it's much less and has no lifetime warranty. oh well. until i can afford 'em, martha will have to do.

so to break in my new dutch oven, i looked for a recipe worthy of such an honor. flipping through one of my old cook's illustrated magazines, i came across "introducing french chicken in a pot." the author of the article goes through his trial and error process in detail and then the actual recipe follows. it sounded pretty good, especially when he writes, "the meat was incredibly tender and juicy, with a rich, soul-satisfying flavor." so i decided to take a trial run.

i first prep the vegetables: 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped leek (substituted for a stalk of celery), 5 whole cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, and 1 t dried rosemary (substituted for a fresh rosemary sprig).

i rinse a 5 lb chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. the legs are trussed together with twine. salt and pepper seasons the chicken in and out.

a tablespoon of olive oil is heated in the dutch oven until smoking. the chicken is then placed in the pot breast side down to brown. the veggies are scattered around to brown as well.

after about 5 minutes, i flip the chicken over to brown the other side well.

after the chicken and veggies are nicely browned, a sheet of foil is spread over the pot and the lid goes on for a tight seal into a 250* oven until the breast registers 160* and the thigh 175*.

after 1.5 hrs, i took the chicken out. unfortnately i waited a bit too long; the breast registered 175* and it was a bit overcooked. hopefully the semi-braising method would keep the breast meat moist.

removing the chicken proved a bit difficult, as the meat was so tender the legs and wings were falling off as i lifted the chicken out. but i got it to the carving board to rest for 20 minutes while i strained the pot juices into a small saucepan and reduced it with some fresh lemon juice.

a quick saute of some green beans with lemon juice and a toss of fresh greens with balsamic vinaigrette and feta dished up the chicken and au jus.

the chicken ended up being pretty flavorful, tender and juicy. the breast meat was a bit overcooked and slightly dry as i thought due to overcooking, but it was quite tender and not stringy at all.

like the recipe author states, this is not a crispy-skinned chicken roast; the skin was soft and a little rubbery. but, there was a lot of flavor and the meat was very moist. for future iterations, i think i'll "beef" up flavor with the addition of other aromatic vegetables like celery and carrots and a couple of lemon wedges in the cavity of the chicken while it cooks.

all in all, a pretty good first use of my new enameled cast iron pot.