Chicken Basquaise

A bit time consuming, but the results are worth it !

Per Tricia~

The good news is that I got one of my taste-testers back.  The bad 

news is my college freshman came down with mono AND strep :( 

He is already on the mend but will happy be providing his opinion 

on "Dorie food" until Spring semester. And he started off with two 

thumbs up for this chicken dish.

Peeling the peppers and tomatoes was not practical for me. 

So I skipped that step.

 I gave it a try but it would have been a deal breaker if it was mandatory.
The recipe was overall quite simple and mostly just took time-for prepping
 the veggies and then waiting in between steps. I am not sure how I managed
it but my chicken thighs stuck terribly to my Dutch oven. Since we reduced
the pot remnants with wine, not was all lost. Nana and I also enjoyed
trying the Piment d'Espelette that Dorie recommended.
 (Have I mentioned how much I love Amazon for this stuff ?)

My husband enjoyed the dish as well and wants a repeat.

 He was surprised at how sweet the overall dish was but enjoyed
it thoroughly. I did as well and look forward to adding that new spice
 to other dishes for a little "heat".

Per Nana~

This week's selection, chicken basquaise, was the most

 time consuming recipe I have worked on. Normally, 

I do not peel peppers but Dorie suggested this method.  

I remember  using red bell peppers in a chicken dish before, 

and it was not pleasant finding the skins in the sauce.

Peeling the peppers turned into a chore so the next method 

was broiling them. That did the trick and went quickly.  

I then had to blanch the tomatoes. At this point I had been 

working for a hour and had nothing accomplished.

Since Hubby and I have a preference for chicken thighs,

 I took Dorie's suggestion rather than the whole chicken 

cut in pieces. When it had finished cooking, it looked so good.  

Not having rice, I decided to go with some pasta -"acini de pepe", 

 which is like couscous. The minute we tasted this combination it 

brought back memories of Paris.

We were staying in a small hotel near the Parc Monceau and 

walked around the corner toa little Middle Eastern restaurant. 

 Never having tried this food before, we had the waiter

make some suggestions.

When our dinners arrived, it turned out to be exactly the same 

as this chicken basquaise served on top of couscous.

It was scrumptious.

After all my griping about the  preparation of this recipe, 

it was one of the most delicious recipes from FFWD.  

I hope everyone  enjoyed this as much as we did.