Poulet Aux Herbes de Provence. A very simple recipe, one we make often.
But first, a short note about Provencal cooking, from Richard Olney’s Provence: the Beautiful Cookbook
While Provencal cooking enraptures poet and traveler alike, it does not put on airs. Indeed, from the Alps to the Mediterranean it is often dubbed the “poor man’s cuisine.” This is exactly what gives it strength and imagination. Other regions of France possess more obvious wealth and traditions, and to the eyes of the world are seen as the culinary power brokers and custodians of the science of taste. They will keep you at the table for hours. Here, impetuous winds (the mistral off the water and the tramontana from the north), a burning sun, dry earth and the brisk, choppy sea have dictated other, more immediate rituals and knowledge.
Provence, before it became a pacific territory to be conquered only by the tourist, experienced much unhappiness and many invasions in the course of its history. It learned from such excursions to nourish its men and women to live long and to live on little.
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Recipe, from Gourmet magazine, March 2008.
Featuring olive oil and the combined herbs and produce of the south of France, this one-dish country dinner will transport you to a café table in Aix in a heartbeat.
ingredients
- 1 pound tomatoes (3 to 4 medium), cut into wedges
- 1 large onion, cut into wedges, leaving root ends intact
- 1/2 cup drained brine-cured black olives, pitted if desired
- 4 large garlic cloves, sliced, plus 1 teaspoon minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds)
Equipment:
- Equipment: kitchen string
- Accompaniment: crusty bread
- Garnish: chopped flat-leaf parsley
preparation
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Notes:
– I never use canned olives.
– You can use commercially-prepared herbes de provence (Cost Plus World Market has them), but according to Richard Olney, these usually contain too many herbs, including rosemary, lavender and sage. For Olney, a good mixture is composed of thyme, oregano, savory and marjoram, in descending proportions.
Here’s a picture of a roast we recently made.