French Bistro Chicken

I admit that I am a softy for almost anything French. Especially the food. While working in France at Linda Meinhardt's Chateau, I was doing a lot of cooking, sometimes morning, noon and night. However, we managed to eat at the local restaurants during the times that we weren't catering to guests. Some meals were wonderful but more often than not, they were either mediocre or down right terrible (the restaurant meals, not the ones I was cooking!). When I sit down and eat this French Bistro chicken, I really feel that this is the way French food should taste. Simple and scrumptious.

This is another recipe from Sarah Leah Chase's "Cold-Weather Cooking" Cookbook. I first tried this recipe about 10 years ago and it always makes me very happy to eat it and to serve it. The fresh tarragon and whole shallots are an incredible combination. Serve this with mashed Yukon Gold potatoes and a leafy green salad with some fresh, chopped tarragon thrown in and dressed with a simple vinaigrette. If you don't have any dry vermouth in your liqueur cabinet, you could use dry white wine, or go out and get some vermouth and you will be surprised how often you can use it in your cooking.

French Bistro Chicken

1/4 c. olive oil
2 T. butter
2 chickens, 3 lbs. each approximately, cut up into pieces
1 pound shallots, peeled
2/3 c. dry white vermouth
1 T. fresh lemon juice
2 t. dried tarragon or 2 or 3 T. fresh chopped tarragon
Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cans (14 ozs. each) artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 c. chicken broth, preferably homemade

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat the olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute the chicken pieces in batches, starting skin side down and turning, until nicely browned all over. Transfer the chicken to a large baking pan and arrange the pieces in a single layer.
3. Pour off all but 3 T. of fat from the skillet. Add the shallots and saute until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the vermouth and lemon juice; cook, stir to deglaze, scraping up any brown bits clinging to the bottom of the skillet. Stir in the tarragon and season with salt & pepper. Add the artichoke hearts and toss to combine. Pour this mixture around the browned chicken pieces.
4. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake until very tender, about 45 minutes. Pour the accumulated juices from the chicken into a small saucepan. Add the chicken broth and boil until reduced by half, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve at once. Makes 6 to 8 servings.