Poulet Sauté Arlésienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 12-inch (30 cm) sauté pan with lid
• •10-inch (25 cm) skillet for shallow-frying
• •Rimmed sheet pan fitted with a wire rack
• •Small saucepan or heatproof bowl for the tomato concassée
• •Tongs or slotted spatula
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the concassée

   Heat the oven to 225°F (110°C) and set a wire rack over a rimmed sheet pan. To prepare the tomatoes, score their skins, lower them into boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, then cool, peel, halve, seed, and chop them roughly. This is the book's concass: a rough chop, not a purée. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the tomatoes with a pinch of the measured salt and pepper, and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir gently until the loose water has evaporated and the tomato will sit in a soft heap while retaining visible pieces. If it still floods the pan when pushed aside, keep cooking; watery concassée will soak the fried garnish. Transfer it to a small covered pan or bowl.

2. 2

   Fry each garnish

   Reserve 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the olive oil for the chicken. Pour enough of the remaining oil into a 10-inch (25 cm) skillet to make a layer about ¼ inch (6 mm) deep, then heat it to 350°F (175°C). Put the flour in a shallow dish. Season the onion roundels, dredge them lightly, shake off every loose veil of flour, and fry them in a single layer until golden at the edges, about 2 minutes per side. Drain them on the rack in the low oven. Repeat with the aubergine, again seasoning and flouring only the pieces about to enter the oil; fry until bronzed and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Never crowd the vegetables or fry onion and aubergine together. This separation is the dish. If a batch turns pale and greasy because the oil cooled, lift it out, bring the oil back to temperature, and fry it again briefly before draining. Ça se rattrape.

3. 3

   Sauté the chicken

   Dry the chicken thoroughly and season it with the remaining salt and pepper. Heat the reserved 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil in a heavy 12-inch (30 cm) sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the legs, thighs, and wings first, skin-side down, for 5 to 6 minutes; turn and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, then withdraw them to a plate. Brown the breast pieces skin-side down for 4 to 5 minutes and on the second side for 2 minutes. Return the dark meat to the pan, lower the heat, cover, and cook for 6 minutes. Add the breasts, cover again, and continue for 5 to 8 minutes, until the breasts reach 165°F (74°C) and the thighs reach about 175°F (80°C). Withdraw every piece to a warm platter and cover loosely. Watch the pan floor as the chicken cooks: the fond should be deep brown, never black. If black specks appear, remove the chicken, wipe those specks away, add a little clean oil, and continue.

4. 4

   Swill and reduce

   Pour the excess oil from the sauté pan without disturbing its brown fond. Add the white wine and swill the pan, scraping firmly with a wooden spoon until every browned deposit dissolves into the wine. Add the pea-sized piece of crushed garlic and the tomatéd half-glaze sauce. Bring the sauce to a lively simmer and reduce it by one-third, from about 1 cup (245 ml) to roughly ⅔ cup (160 ml), 5 to 8 minutes. It should be nappé (coating the back of a spoon), glossy but still fluid enough to run over the chicken. Taste only after reducing, because demi-glace concentrates its salt. If the sauce has gone syrupy, loosen it one tablespoon of hot water at a time; if it runs like wine, simmer it a little longer.

5. 5

   Compose the platter

   Rewarm the tomato concassée gently if needed. Arrange the chicken in the center of a warm serving platter and spoon the reduced sauce over it, leaving the fried vegetables mostly uncovered so their edges remain distinct. Surround the bird with alternating small heaps of fried onion roundels, fried aubergine roundels, and butter-cooked tomato concassée. Serve at once, while the sauce gleams and the garnish still carries its crust. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose a chicken around 3½ pounds (1.6 kg). A much larger bird takes long enough to cook that its breast dries while the legs catch up; ask the butcher to cut it into eight neat pieces and save the back for stock.
• •Use ready-to-serve, low-sodium veal demi-glace, not an undiluted commercial concentrate. If yours comes as a paste, dilute it according to its directions before measuring the ⅓ cup (80 ml); concentrate measured straight from the jar will make the sauce brutally salty.
• •Plain tomato paste is the home equivalent for making the small quantity of half-glaze distinctly tomatéd. Cooked with the demi-glace and wine, it supplies the source recipe's tomato shade and flavor without turning the sauce into tomato gravy.
• •When fresh tomatoes are wan, use about 1 pound (450 g) of good canned whole plum tomatoes, drained, seeded, and roughly chopped. The classical pantry has always understood preservation; a sound canned tomato is better than a tired fresh one.
• •A mild everyday olive oil is right for frying. Save a strongly peppery finishing oil for another plate, since high heat wastes its character and can make the onion taste bitter.
• •Pour a dry rosé from Les Baux-de-Provence or a fresh Provençal white. Leftover chicken and sauce keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator, but store the vegetable garnish separately and re-crisp it in a hot oven.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomatoes can be peeled, seeded, chopped, and cooked in butter up to 1 day ahead. Chill them covered, then reheat gently while the pan sauce reduces.
• •Mix the prepared demi-glace and tomato paste up to 2 days ahead and keep the tomatéd half-glaze covered in the refrigerator.
• •The chicken can be cut and dried uncovered in the refrigerator up to 1 day ahead. Bring it out about 20 minutes before cooking so the chill leaves its surface.
• •Slice the onion and aubergine up to 2 hours ahead, but don't salt or flour either one until the frying oil is ready. Fry the garnish during the final 30 minutes before serving; a rack in the low oven holds it, but an overnight rest does not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 550g)