Another September mainstay for us. We grew the doux des Landes peppers the traditional dish calls for just for this. We made it for my mom and stepdad when they visited. Its place in French gastronomy is well deserved. It's a beautiful combination of late summer produce.
Ingredients
- 1 good-sized free-range chicken, 1.2 to 1.5 kg, with its giblets
- 200 g Bayonne ham
- 2 large onions
- 2 dozen small sweet green peppers (Anglet peppers; green bell peppers work)
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 to 3 tbsp duck fat or oil
- 20 cl (about 3/4 cup) dry white wine, Irouléguy or Jurançon
- 1 bouquet garni (1 sprig thyme, 1 bay leaf, 3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley)
- 1 to 2 sugar cubes
- 4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, to finish
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Cut the chicken into pieces and keep the giblets. Split the gizzard; set the liver and heart aside for later.
- Dice the ham. Peel and chop the onions. Stem, halve and seed the peppers. Peel, seed and roughly chop the tomatoes. Peel and lightly crush the garlic.
- Heat the fat in a casserole over fairly high heat and brown the chicken pieces with the gizzard. Add the ham and onions, then the peppers a few minutes later.
- When everything is well browned, pour off the fat and deglaze with the white wine. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat.
- Add the tomatoes, garlic, bouquet garni and one or two sugar cubes to take the edge off the tomatoes. Season, stir, cover and simmer for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Add the liver and heart 10 minutes before the end.
- Take out the bouquet garni, move everything to a serving dish, scatter with chopped parsley and serve right away.
- Some Basque families add 250 g small mushrooms, sautéed separately, halfway through the cooking.