Chicken Clemenceau
A New Orleans Creole supper: sautéed chicken on the bone tossed at the last minute with brunoise potato, peas, mushrooms and a heavy hand of garlic butter.
Overview
Chicken pieces brown in oil and butter; finished in the oven 20 minutes. Tiny diced potatoes shallow-fry separately until gold; cremini mushrooms sauté; peas warm through. Everything tosses with chopped garlic, butter, lemon, parsley and a splash of dry sherry, then heaps onto the resting chicken. Eaten with crusty French bread.
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks (or 1.4 kg jointed chicken)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (split)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 600 g floury potatoes (peeled, cut into 1 cm dice - brunoise)
- 250 g cremini (or button mushrooms, quartered)
- 200 g frozen petits pois
- 6 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 3 tablespoons dry sherry (or dry white wine)
- 4 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- ½ lemon (juice)
- 200 ml vegetable oil for frying potatoes
Method
Stage 1 - Chicken
- Heat oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Pat chicken dry; season with salt and pepper.
- Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a wide ovenproof pan over medium-high.
- Brown chicken skin-side down 5 minutes; flip 3 minutes.
- Transfer the pan to the oven 18-22 minutes until cooked through (internal 75°C).
- Lift the chicken onto a plate; tent with foil.
Stage 2 - Potatoes
- While the chicken roasts, heat the vegetable oil in a separate pan to 175°C.
- Fry potato dice in batches 4-5 minutes per batch until deep gold.
- Drain on kitchen paper.
Stage 3 - Mushrooms and peas
- In the original chicken pan (drain off excess fat but keep a tablespoon), heat 1 tablespoon butter.
- Add mushrooms; cook hard 6 minutes until gold and any liquid has evaporated.
- Add peas; cook 2 minutes.
- Add garlic; cook 30 seconds.
Stage 4 - Combine
- Add the fried potatoes back to the pan.
- Pour in sherry; let it sizzle off 1 minute.
- Off the heat, stir in the remaining tablespoon butter, lemon juice and parsley.
- Taste; adjust salt.
Stage 5 - Plate
- Lay the chicken pieces on a wide warm platter.
- Heap the potato-mushroom-pea mixture over the top.
- Eat with crusty bread.
Notes
- Tiny dice on the potatoes: 1 cm is right. The Clemenceau is identifiable by the small uniform cubes.
- Sherry not wine: Dry sherry brings a nutty depth. Dry white wine is the substitute.
- Garlic at the end: Don't burn it - 30 seconds in butter; it should aroma but not colour past pale gold.
Storage
- Refrigerate 2 days. The potatoes lose their crisp; the dish is best fresh.
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