Chicken Bonne Femme

When the weather turns cold, it's time to get out my dutch oven and make a hearty winter dinner.  This winter hasn't given us too many cold days in Georgia so I have to take advantage of them when I can.  Last week we had one cold, windy day so I pulled a recipe out of my Cook's Country magazine for Chicken Bonne Femme - a perfect cold weather meal.  According to the article in the magazine it was originally a Creole dish. I wouldn't say that I'm a huge fan of Creole cuisine but this chicken dish flavored with bacon and wine and fresh herbs sounded too good to pass up.

Chicken Bonne Femme
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
5 slices of bacon
1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, cut in half
1 onion, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
3/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon hot sauce
3 scallions

​Cook bacon in dutch oven until crisp.

​Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of fat from the pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper cook in dutch oven until browned on both sides.

​Transfer to a platter to cool. When the chicken cools, remove the skin.

​Pour off all but 1 1/2 Tablespoons of fat from the pan. Arrange potatoes, cut-side down in the pan. Cook over medium heat about 10 minutes or until browned.

​Stir in onion and cook until softened. Add garlic and thyme and cook 30 seconds.

​Stir in wine, broth, half of the bacon and hot sauce. Bring to a boil.

​Return chicken and any juices to pot. Reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, until potatoes are tender and meat registers 175 degrees. (About 25 minutes)

​Sprinkle with scallions and remaining bacon.

​The chicken was super moist and tender and the broth was rich and flavorful.

On a side note: I was really nervous about using my dutch oven on the stove top because I had heard all sorts of horror stories about people who cracked their expensive le creuset dutch ovens by heating them on the stove. I do not have a le crueset dutch oven but I have another brand and I carefully read over the instructions once again just to make sure that I was not going to experience a kitchen catastrophe in the middle of fixing dinner.  I didn't see anything that warned against putting mine on the stove top so I  went ahead with the recipe as directed.  

Ciao!

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