Sunday, October 13, 2019

Poule au pot

Saturday morning was a little overcast and damp, so I decided to make my Sunday lunch a day early. I made a classic French dish called poule au pot (chicken in a pot). The recipe is traditionally made with an old laying hen, a tough bird that requires at least a couple of hours in the pot to become tender. Nowadays, many people just use regular chickens (poulet) that can poach in a fraction of that time.

A free-range farm-raised chicken. I used yellow turnips because they looked so pretty. The bay leaves and thyme come from our garden.
I took the picture before I remembered the onion, but it went in.

I got a nice chicken from the supermarket and all the standard vegetables. Leeks, celery, carrots, turnips, parsnips, onion, along with salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, and some allspice (instead of cloves). I put the chicken in a pot, covered it with water, and brought it to a boil. I skimmed the broth, then added the vegetables and herbs. It all simmered for a little less than an hour before I turned it off and let it sit for ten minutes or so.

Poached chicken with tender vegetables. A chicken in every pot!

The chicken was perfectly poached and the vegetables were all tender. And it was delicious! Of course, now I have a ton of leftovers. I froze most of the broth for later, but I saved some out for today's lunch. I plan to cut up some of the remaining chicken and vegetables, add noodles, and make a chicken noodle soup. I have some Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles to use, so I'll look for some recipes online for an Asian-style soup.

9 comments:

  1. It's turned chilly here and this dish looks so good. I'm going to make it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope that you are surviving without Ken there. How do you keep in touch with each other? Roderick

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks delicious. I'm glad you identified the yellow turnips. I couldn't figure out what they were. We only see the white and purple ones in the stores here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now we know how you roll without Ken in the kitchen! (I know you are a pastry/pizza and other chef, too, Walt!) Looks delish - especially knowing about all of the leftovers for future no-mess meals. I, too, was wondering about those bright yellow tomato-shaped vegies! I've never seen turnips like that anywhere I've been.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those yellow turnips are gorgeous. And they're yummy.
    Oh, and parsnips, haven't had those in ages. Such good fall vegetables.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love turnips! Pity so few eat them - at least around my parts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. evelyn, it's a good fall/winter dish!

    judy, :)

    roderick, email, mostly.

    thickethouse, we're lucky to get both kinds of turnips, as well as rutabaga and parsnips.

    mary, come to think of it, I don't think I saw them before moving here.

    emm, I really like parsnips!

    michael, they're good roasted, too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My mother used to do this... not as well, i would imagine ... when I was young. I never enjoyed hers, but I have a feeling I would enjoy it now... and yours especially.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!