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.