Chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes are at the heart of this rustic, one-pot dinner, traditionally cooked by French hunters. Recipe below.
[su_dropcap style=”flat”]L[/su_dropcap]ast week’s recipe, Marion’s Polish Hunter’s Stew, came about because John over at Kitchen Riffs shared a recipe for an Italian hunter’s dish, Chicken Cacciatore. When I saw it, I realized Marion had never made bigos for the blog and put in a request. (We’ll share a link to John’s recipe in the Kitchen Notes below.) So when I saw a French hunter’s dish somewhere else, I of course had to make it.
The two key ingredients in Chicken Chausser (literally hunter’s chicken) are chicken—standing in for whatever game bird the hunter might bag—and mushrooms that would be foraged from the forest during the hunt. You can use any chicken cuts you choose—we’ve seen chicken breasts and whole cut up chickens—but our preference is usually to cook chicken thighs. They tend to be meatier and juicier. And unless you’re foraging your own mushrooms, button mushrooms work just fine.
Other constant ingredients in Chicken Chasseur include tomatoes (in various forms), white wine (or vermouth in at least one instance), aromatics and herbs—invariably including fresh parsley. Sometimes flour is involved, sometimes not.
Chicken Chasseur
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on, about 1/2 pound each
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 medium shallots, chopped (or 1 onion)
- 1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered (see Kitchen Notes)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 3/4 cup chicken stock, reduced-sodium if store bought
- 3/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, along with some of the juice
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Trim excess fat from chicken thighs and season them on both sides with salt and pepper. Mix the thyme and tarragon together in a ramekin and sprinkle a couple of pinches on the skin side of the thighs, as much for visual effect as for flavor.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large, lidded sauté pan over medium-high flame, swirling the pan to combine. Add chicken thighs to the pan skin down and cook until golden brown, about 5 or 6 minutes. Turn chicken, reduce heat to medium and cook for about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate, and add shallots and mushrooms to pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes.
- Clear a spot in the middle of the pan and add the rest of the thyme and tarragon, along with the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Stir to combine everything, then clear another spot in the middle. Sprinkle in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Stir everything together and add chicken stock and wine. Stir together, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in diced tomatoes and nestle chicken pieces into the mixture, along with bay leaf. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover pan and cook for 10 minutes.
- Cook uncovered for an additional 20 minutes, keeping an eye on the pan and stirring sauce around chicken. If the sauce starts to reduce too much, partially cover the pan. Plate chicken, taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with salt as needed. Discard bay leaf and spoon sauce around and over chicken. Sprinkle chopped parsley over each serving.
- Chicken Chasseur is traditionally served with mashed potatoes. You could also serve it with rice.
Kitchen Notes
Aw, thanks for the mention! Glad I inspired this — such a terrific dish! So many different “hunter-style” dishes, so little time — your recipe looks wonderful. Need to make it! Thanks.
Oh! This looks so good!
I’ll be sure to make it before the weather warms up.
Side note: has it been your experience that canned diced tomatoes take forever to soften up when cooking – maybe twice as long as canned whole tomatoes? This seems counter-intuitive. It is a mystery to me…
Eeka, YES. In fact, as The Kitchn notes, “Diced tomatoes have calcium chloride added, which helps tomatoes retain their shape, even during cooking.” So to tomato companies, this is a feature, not a bug. If you prefer a softer end product, then begin with whole canned tomatoes and cut them up to the size you prefer.
And thanks, John. Also, I was delighted to see your post about making Black Velvet cocktails. An elegant photo too.
Will definitely try this next week. Sounds delicious and it’s still a bit chilly here, so need to get on this before the heat pours in!
I made it – fabulous savory flavor! Mmmmm… even better on day 2.
Eeka, thanks for following up—so glad you enjoyed the recipe!