Poulet Sauté Mireille

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan with lid
• •2-quart (2-liter) saucepan with a tight lid
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Warm shallow serving platter
• •2-cup (475 ml) bowl for moulding the rice

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the concassée

   Score a shallow cross in the base of each tomato. Lower the tomatoes into boiling water just until their skins loosen, about 20 seconds, then cool them in cold water and peel. Halve them across the middle and remove the seeds over a fine sieve set above a bowl, collecting every drop of juice. Chop the flesh roughly. This is tomato concassée, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped, not crushed into a purée. Keep the flesh and strained juice separate.

2. 2

   Start the saffron rice

   Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs nearly clear, then drain well. Warm 2 tablespoons of the measured water and rub the saffron threads between your fingers into it. Combine the rice, saffron liquid, remaining water, and ½ teaspoon of the salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and cook over the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Remove it from the heat without lifting the lid and let it rest for at least 10 minutes while the chicken cooks.

3. 3

   Sauté the chicken

   Dry the chicken thoroughly, then season it with ¾ teaspoon of the salt and all the pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken in batches, skin-side first, giving each piece enough room to color rather than stew. Add the remaining oil only if the pan grows dry. Return the pieces to the pan once they are deep gold and approximately half-cooked, with the flesh set around the outside but still unfinished near the bone.

   If the browned film on the pan begins turning black, lower the heat, move the chicken aside, and wipe away only the burnt patches. Keep the golden fond. That is flavor worth protecting.
4. 4

   Add the vegetables

   Scatter the chopped onion, tomato concassée, and diced pimento around the half-cooked chicken. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and turn the vegetables through the oil without scraping the chicken skin loose. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, then uncover and cook for 2 minutes more. The onion should soften, the pimento should yield at its edges, and the tomatoes should release enough liquid to glaze the pan.

5. 5

   Add the garlic late

   Ten minutes before serving, stir the crushed garlic into the moist vegetables, keeping it away from any bare, fiercely hot patch of pan. Turn the chicken once and cook uncovered at a gentle, steady sizzle until the thickest piece reaches 165°F (74°C). If the breast pieces finish before the legs, lift them out and keep them loosely covered while the dark meat continues. If the vegetables threaten to catch before the chicken is ready, add the reserved tomato juice one tablespoon at a time and lower the heat.

6. 6

   Reduce and strain

   Transfer the chicken and softened vegetables to a warm serving platter. Pour the reserved tomato juice through the sieve into the sauté pan and scrape up the golden fond. Boil briskly until the liquid reduces by half and turns glossy, about 4 to 6 minutes. Strain it through a clean fine sieve directly over the chicken without forcing the solids through. If it reduces too far or tastes too strong, whisk in a tablespoon of hot water. Ça se rattrape. No flour or stock belongs here; the clean tomato reduction is the finish.

7. 7

   Mould and serve

   Fluff the saffron rice with a fork and taste for salt. Rinse a 2-cup bowl with hot water, shake it dry, and pack in the rice firmly enough to hold together without crushing it. Invert it onto a separate serving dish and lift away the bowl. Keep the saffron timbale beside the chicken, not underneath it, so the clear sauce stays with the poultry and the rice remains fragrant and distinct. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose a small chicken rather than an enormous roasting bird. Its pieces cook quickly enough for the source method, and the dark and white meat finish closer together. Ask the butcher to cut it into eight pieces if you’d rather keep your knife clean.
• •The pimento here is a fresh sweet red pepper, diced raw and cooked with the onion and tomato. A common red bell pepper is the honest home equivalent. Jarred pimentos are already softened and would disappear into the sauce.
• •Ripe fresh tomatoes give the brightest result. Outside their season, use one 28-ounce (800 g) can of good whole peeled tomatoes: drain them over a sieve, chop four generous tomatoes as the concassée, and reserve the can juices for the reduction.
• •Do not add the garlic with the onion. Ten minutes is enough to perfume the oil and tomatoes while keeping the garlic sweet. Earlier is not deeper here, merely harsher.
• •A dry Provençal rosé suits the tomato, saffron, and olive oil, especially when the platter is served outdoors in the shade. A light red served slightly cool works as well.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomatoes can be peeled, seeded, and chopped up to 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate the concassée and its strained juice in separate covered containers so the final reduction remains properly measured.
• •The onion and pimento can be chopped earlier in the day and kept covered in the refrigerator. Crush the garlic only shortly before it enters the pan.
• •The saffron rice may rest, covered and off the heat, for about 30 minutes. Fluff it only when you are ready to mould it; repeated stirring breaks the grains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 560g)