Thursday, March 13, 2014

Jeweler’s Chicken or Poulet Bijoutiere


This chicken is called Jeweler’s chicken, not just because it’s so rich, but because of the beautiful ruby-garnet color of the pomegranate seeds. I made a similar chicken dish recently – Pomegranate Glazed Chicken, seen here.

I found this recipe came in a marvelous French cookbook Chez Bonne Femme by Wini Moranville. Wini also shares some of recipes on her website The Bonne Femme Cookbook, link here.

If you’ve ever wondered if French bonne femmes modern cook with pomegranate juice (I did), Winni assures you they do. Pomegranate juice is called jus de grenade in French and should not be confused with grenadine, a cocktail syrup. She also cautions you not to substitute grenadine for the pomegranate juice.


I made a few petite but minor changes to the original recipe. For our taste, bone-in, fat on chicken thighs contains too much excess fatty skin. I removed as much of the fatty skin as I possibly could, plus I totally removed the bottom piece of skin from the chicken, leaving only the top piece. I also deglazed the pan with the wine before adding the chicken back into the pan after the initial browning step. Our chicken thighs were large and in that case, I felt one was plenty for a serving as opposed to two. But if you have a hearty eater or your thighs are on the small size, by all means serve the recommended two.

If you can’t find fresh pomegranate seeds, you can always remove them the easy way using Chris from The Café Sucre Farine’s method shown here. Hot cooked rice and a green vegetable, such as green beans, go well with this dish.


Jeweler’s Chicken or Poulet Bijoutiere
Adapted from The Bonne Femme Cookbook by Wini Moranville – serves 4

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, crushed
4 large shallots, peeled & quartered
¼ cup semi-sweet white wine, such an off dry German Riesling
¾ cup pomegranate juice
¼ cup low-sodium, low-fat chicken broth
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 tablespoons red currant jelly
Fresh pomegranate arils (seeds) for garnish

Remove as much excess fat from the chicken thighs as possible, leaving the skin on one side only. (I also removed the bottom piece of skin.) Season on both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Rub the inside of a large, deep skillet or good size brazier with one of the garlic cloves, then discard the clove. Heat the oil in the pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers; add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes. The chicken will cook further in the recipe. Reduce the heat to medium if the chicken browns too quickly. Do not crowd the pan or the chicken will steam, so you may want to brown it in batches. When the chicken is browned, transfer to a platter and set aside. Drain off all but a sheet of the fat from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining garlic and the shallots. Cook, stirring, until the garlic and shallots are soft and beginning to brown lightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Take care not the let the garlic burn.

Add the wine to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon or whisk to loosen any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and boil briefly until reduced by half. Add the chicken thighs back to the pan along with pomegranate juice, chicken broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, turning the chicken now and then so both sides of the chicken become colored by the juice.

Discard the fresh thyme springs and stir in the red currant jelly. Continue to cook at an active simmer until the internal temperature of the chicken registers 180 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 15 to 17 minutes, shifting the chicken and stirring the sauce occasionally. If the sauce becomes overly thick before the chicken is done, stir in a tablespoon or so of water into the sauce. The sauce should be the consistency of a spoonable glaze.

Arrange two thighs on each of four dinner plates and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Garnish each portion with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and serve with hot cooked rice and a green vegetable, such as green beans.



This will be shared with Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm, Miz Helen’s Country Kitchen Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday at Simple Recipes, and Comforts of Home Tasty Tuesday.

* * *

If you are looking for a great alternative to corn beef for St. Patrick's Day, give my Beef Carbonnade stewed in Guinness a try.    


Link here to Beef Carbonnade post and recipe.  
Have a great weekend everyone & Happy St. Patrick's Day .

44 comments:

  1. What a beautiful recipe, Sam! I can see why they call it Jeweler's Chicken!

    xo

    Sheila

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  2. I agree with Sheila--what a treat to the eye! This will go in my "chicken" file. I am fortunate to have a grocery source of pomegranate seeds without going through all the work.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  3. They are jewels..what an appropriate recipe name..and again your splash of color!

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  4. They do look like jewels! What a wonderful sounding dish!

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  5. I love it Sam. Beautiful dish.

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  6. Magnificent and mouthwatering! I love pomegranates.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  7. Thanks for showcasing my recipe. I'm honored! Beautiful photos, too!
    Wini Moranville

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  8. Chicken is our go-to for a main course...your dish sounds wonderful and it is beautiful!! Thank you for the information about the use of pomegranate juice...I wasn't aware of its popularity.

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  9. Great looking dish Sam - I really like your use of red lately. The beef dish looks great as well.

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    ReplyDelete
  11. Sam, That is a beautiful looking chicken entree. Two thighs for me please! Then there is the Beef Carbonnade...definitely my kind of food. Hearty with potatoes and carrots. Both meals look very satisfying indeed! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  12. Another beautiful creation from you, Sam. Love the colours and flavours.

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  13. The hubby would eat chicken every day of the week so I am always looking for new recipes. This one will be tried next week and as with other of your recipes I've made, I'm sure it will be great.

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  14. Boy that sure looks pretty with the pomegranate Sam! And your St. Patty's option has my mouth watering:@)

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  15. Absolutely gorgeous! And though my thighs are by no means on the small side, I would probably want a double serving. ;-)

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  16. That is a petit bijoux of a recipe and, you are right, the green beans and rice make a nice addition!

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  17. Don't you love Wini? Her food is so darn good. I haven't made this one, but now it is on my list.

    Madonna

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  18. Sounds interesting. I have never seen pomegranates on sale here though. Maybe int the larger towns. Have a good weekend Diane

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  19. Love your blog. Great pictures and this recipe looks so delicious. Always fun to find a fellow North Carolina blogger!

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  20. I do like to use pomegranate juice and arils in recipes! Great idea to combine in your chicken dish.
    (super delicious photo of your beef in Guinness stew.)

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  21. The chicken really does look bejeweled with the pomegranate seeds! This sounds delicious, Sam.

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  22. Delicious looking food, Sam. Your blog makes my mouth water, even if I am not hungry.

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  23. What a wonderful name for a chicken dish! And I'm off to find that beef carbonnade, it looks fantastic, and so colorful :)

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  24. Love this. And yes, I always cut a bunch of that fat off chicken thighs and there's still plenty left. And too bad my corned beef is braising as I type, or I'd be very tempted to make that beef of yours. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

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  25. What a gorgeous magenta color! I have cooked with pomegranate juice, reducing it to a glaze and I was astounded at how great it tasted. This looks healthy, and flavorful. Great idea on deglazing the pan, Sam.

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  26. This would definitely be a crowd pleaser! And I love the name of this, too! Perfect!

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  27. How very pretty. A jewel, indeed! I've never cooked with pomegranate juice.

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  28. What a wonderful dinner Sam! I love how colorful it is and everything about it sound delicious. I know dinner at your house is always a treat!
    Thanks for the link too. I still can't get over how easy that trick is, I just hate that it took me so many years before I learned it :)

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  29. I hate the extreme fattiness of chicken thigh skin. That's why we remove it, scrape the fat off of the back and replace it on the chicken for our competition chicken in BBQ contests. It's a royal pain in the booty but worth it. And the grenadine, oy, I can just imagine mixing the two would be disastrous.

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  30. Hi Sam, just stopping by to say how delightful your blog is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

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  31. As usual, as much a feast for the eyes as for the palate. I like the printable recipe feature - very handy! I have copied and pasted a number of your recipes into a Word document over the years, so that I could take them with me into the kitchen. Will this be a feature on every post?

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    Replies
    1. Brenda, the printable recipes are a new feature and will definitely be included in the future. I've tried to go back and add them to most of the older posts. If you see one that doesn't include a printable recipe, please let me know and I'll fix it right away.
      Sam

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  32. I received this cookbook at Christmas but have not looked at it very much. I’ll go back and read the chicken recipes as this one looks very good. Lately I have been experimenting with vegetable dishes and staying away from much meat – using a lot of green Vidalia onions! I’ll use them in your turmeric rice tonight, fry the white parts of the onion with garlic, or shallot, then sprinkle with the green parts later.

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  33. The name is very fitting for the dish... love the pomegranates seeds. Always a pleasure to see you on foodie friday.

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  34. this looks wonderful and a balanced meal with the veggies :-)

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  35. The pomegranate seeds really do make this chicken shine, Sam! It looks beautiful!

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  36. Love everything about this dish, absolutely gorgeous!

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  37. not only beautiful but looks so delicious with all the different ingredients. the pomegranate seeds are awesome addition

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  38. Dear Sam, These dishes both look wonderful. I love the heartiness of the beef and the chicken dinner is always welcome in my house. Blessings dear. Catherine xo

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  39. What a pretty dish and the pomegranate juice and current jelly must give a nice flavor to the chicken. I agree with you about the size of chicken thighs…I fix two for my husband and one for myself and it is plenty.

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  40. Love it…This dish represents spring. The pomegranate seeds are definitely the jewels.

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  41. It looks so delicious, a healthy food.
    I like your images from France.

    Chantal

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  42. Gorgeous and tasty. I should just print out your entire blog! Love cooking with pomegranate.

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