Poulet Sauté Arlésienne

Poulet Sauté Arlésienne (Arles-style sautéed chicken) teaches a simple discipline: fry the garnish separately or lose it. Aubergine and onion crowded into one pan release water, steam each other, and turn soft. Kept apart, they bronze at the edges; the tomato concassée stays buttery and distinct; the chicken arrives beneath a glossy white-wine and tomatéd sauce.

The original entry assumed a saucier beside a stockpot never off the fire, plus enough hands to fry the garnish while the chicken sautéed. It asks for no salamander, so none is invented. At home, a small measure of good prepared demi-glace, made tomatéd with tomato paste, replaces the standing half-glaze; the vegetables fry in sequence and wait on a rack in a low oven. Concurrent pans are brigade scaffolding and can go. The wine deglaze, separate frying, butter-cooked tomato, and reduction by one-third are the dish and must stay.

One cook, one stove, one evening. Before the chicken touches the pan, finish the tomato and fry the onion and aubergine separately. That order is the one true thing to remember: brown garnish, not a covered muddle.