Chicken Bonne Femme, Quick and Dirty

O.K. folks, I have received a request (or was it a challenge?) from Yat Pundit to post my quick and dirty version of a classic New Orleans dish, Chicken Bonne Femme (Good Woman’s Chicken?). Tujague’s has probably the best known version of the dish which is prepared with garlic, potatoes, white wine and, of course, chicken. Tom Fitzmorris’s NOMenu.com has a good recipe, and as you can see, it’s fairly involved with several stages of preparation.

But I said “quick and dirty” version, and here it is.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  1. Chop up all your stuff. Green onions, garlic and potatoes; the spuds in half-inch cubes. I throw in some ham or chunks of andouille or smoked sausage as well, so chop that up, too. How much? As much garlic and green onion as you like. I like a lot. And enough potatoes to cover the skillet in one layer.
  2. Take a skillet, one that you can put in the oven that’s large enough to hold as much chicken as want to cook. I usually make this for two, and I usually use leg quarters, so I use a skillet big enough for two or three of them.
  3. Melt some butter in the bottom of the skillet. Over low heat, put in the garlic and green onions. Let them cook a little, or don’t, it really doesn’t matter. Take it off the heat.
  4. Put potato cubes and ham and/or sausage in with the butter/garlic/green onion mixture. Mix well, make sure potatoes are in a single layer on the bottom. You could add whatever herbs or Tobasco or hot sauce you want at this point, too.
  5. Sprinkle chicken with Tony’s or whatever seasoning you like. Place the chicken in a single layer ON TOP of the potatoes. The point is that the potatoes are elevating the chicken above the bottom of the pan.
  6. Stick in hot oven until done, baste if you feel like it during the cooking. After about 40 minutes check it. When done, the chicken is fully cooked, the potatoes are crispy crunchy on the bottom, and the pan should be full of garlicky buttery chickeny juices. Take everything out and deglaze with wine or chicken stock and make a sauce if you want, but that’s getting beyond the spirit of quick and dirty.

To sum up: Chop, melt, mix, place, cook. One pan. Not classic, but it’s all good.

Update: Yat Pundit has posted his recipe, complete with food porn, at YatCuisine.

2 Responses to Chicken Bonne Femme, Quick and Dirty

  1. stacey on June 8, 2008 at 10:21 am

    Oh that sounds so YUMMY!!

  2. Sphinx Ink on June 8, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    Yum, sounds de-lish. I do love recipes, although I seldom try them. It looks pretty easy though, and I like that one-pan thing. Oh, by the way, I believe “bonne femme” is French idiom for “housewife,” so I guess it’s “housewife’s chicken.”

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