Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner! M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken.....

M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken

Four paws up and a tail wag from Sasha, The Wonder Dog, and one “Oh, Mama!” from the sous chef, signified that  M. Jacques’ Armagnac Chicken recipe was officially a hit in our household.  As my faithful readers know, I am a Culinary Diva with a minor obsession in mixology.  So pardon me if I am a little prejudiced because this recipe calls for a good measure of Armagnac. 

Armagnac is a region in southwest France, and is the oldest brandy distilled in that country.  Unlike its sibling Cognac, Armagnac is created in small quantities by small producers.  Its original purpose was therapeutic, and don’t you just love how the French have traditionally found therapeutic benefits from the drinking of alcohol, in whatever manifestation, and have even enlisted the support of the clergy in these efforts?  For example, Prior Vital Du Four, a Cardinal, said about Armagnac:

"It makes disappear redness and burning of the eyes, and stops them from tearing; it cures hepatitis, sober consumption adhering. It cures gout, cankers, and fistula by ingestion; restores the paralysed member by massage; and heals wounds of the skin by application. It enlivens the spirit, partaken in moderation, recalls the past to memory, renders men joyous, preserves youth and retards senility. And when retained in the mouth, it loosens the tongue and emboldens the wit, if someone timid from time to time himself permits." 

Thank goodness Christopher Columbus and Juan Ponce de Leon chose arduous sea travel in their search for the Fountain of Youth over merely canvassing the local spirit shops for the best Armagnac.  Who knows when, or if, the New World would ever have been discovered.

Very little prep work to get this dish ready for action

My sous chef is a huge fan of large, moist, succulent breasts and is not eager to work very hard to get at them.  So he prefers butcher trimmed chicken breasts over whole roasting chickens.  While I maintain chicken can only be properly prepared and appreciated if cooked as a whole, he merely shrugs and opines that the carving and eating of a whole chicken is messy and unjustified by the result.  At least that was his position before I mastered Joel Robuchon’s method of roasting a whole chicken, a method I incorporated with M. Jacques recipe found in Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table.

M. Jacques’ Armagnac Chicken is a one pot meal that is “melt in your mouth delicious” with subtle flavors in every bite.  As with many of Dorie’s recipes, the dish is amazingly easy to prepare.  Chop the vegetables and heat in olive oil; give the chicken a thorough salt and pepper massage; place the chicken on top of the veggies, cover and cook for 60 minutes.  That’s it.  This is the busy person’s “go to” meal, and is perfect for a lazy day when you need to relax from a hectic work and social calendar. 

A little olive oil glistening for the veggies before adding chicken

I made my chicken the Sunday after spending the night with George Clooney and Brad Pitt – tough job, but someone has to do it.  (Okay, so they were at the table next to me and maybe it wasn’t the whole night, but 5 hours next to two of the sexiest men in America—according to me and People Magazine-- is a long time to be spanxed and all a twitter.  In fact, it was downright exhausting.  Thank goodness my sous chef decided to stay home.  Just imagine his orgiastic state of mind (and we are not talking about M. Jacques' Armagnac Chicken) since Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, and Stacy Keebler were all there and nearby. Who knows if we would still be talking to each other after all that eye candy.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-palm-springs-film-festival-gala-2012-pictures,0,7475866.photogallery

http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/photo/detail.aspx?FID=53&PGID=231

http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/photo/detail.aspx?FID=53&PGID=231

The M. Jacques Armagnac Chicken was so moist and tender, it literally fell off the bone.  The salt and pepper massage added the correct amount of flavor to the chicken – not too much, but enough.  I veered slightly from Dorie’s method and added butter underneath the skin.   I like butter and it creates an incredibly moist chicken in the French style.  The vegetables take on a very rich taste with the amalgamation of Armagnac, fresh herbs and juices from the chicken. 

After a long night with George and Brad, a little medicinal Armagnac was in store

To round out this perfectly simple and balanced meal, we enjoyed a L’Ermitage 2002 Brut by Roederer Estate that we picked up at 3^rd Corner Wine Shop in Palm Desert.  (www.the3rdcorner.com.)  This sparkling wine has been compared to a “tarte tartin” with its notes of baked apples, buttery crust, apricots and vanilla bean.  It is made only in exceptional years—just like vintage French champagne—and is a perfect accompaniment to the Armagnac infused chicken.

This is definitely a “Winner-Winner, Chicken Dinner”!

Voila!  Dinner in 60!

To read more Doristas experiences with the M. Jacques’ Armagnac Chicken, or to join the group, visit:

www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com

Recipe can be found at the following sites, or better yet - get a copy of Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan from Open Sky, Amazon or your local book store.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/eurofile-whats-really-cooking-in-paris/

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10258/1084539-478.stm