Making Chicken Piperade At Home

Posted by Correen in Cookbook Recipes, Main Dish, Recipes, Special Features, Vegetables, Vegetarian | 1 comment

Discovered this delicious Pipérade recipe in The Way to Cook by Julia Child several years ago. When green peppers are bountiful and in season I love making large batches of pipérade that I vacuum seal and freeze. We enjoy using this recipe on chicken, fish, and pasta throughout the winter months.  This is Julia Child’s basic recipe with my own twists thrown in. Do you like finding basic recipes and adding your touches too? I sure do. Inviting you to enjoy this recipe for Chicken Pipérade, please feel free to add your signature to the dish.

Pipérade (page 90 in The Way to Cook)

Pipérade is sliced red and green peppers in garlic and olive oil.

This colorful vegetable saute, of Basque origin, is a wonderfully useful condiment, either hot or cold. Use it on open-faced omelettes, for instance, or pizzas, and for various simmerings such as fillets of fish, breast of chicken. (I would like to add that steak tenders and cut up chicken work nicely too.)

For about 1 1/2 cups

1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
1 large clove garlic, pureed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch of mixed dried herbs

Saute the onion slowly 5 minutes in a frying pan with the oil. When tender and translucent, add the peppers along with the garlic, tossing with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and herbs. Saute uncovered, tossing several times, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the peppers are nearly tender.

Ahead of time note: May be refrigerated 2 to 3 days; may also be frozen.

Chicken Pipérade

Whole chicken cut up into 8 parts or 4 large chicken breasts
6 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed, chopped into chunks or substitute a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes that has been drained.
2 teaspoons Piment d’Espelette*
Bay leave
Double batch Pipérade (recipe above)

Wash and pat dry chicken. In a large dutch oven with hot oil saute chicken to golden brown on all sides. Remove to a plate. In the same dutch oven toss in the tomatoes, Piment d’Espelette*, Bay leave and prepared Pipérade; stir well and heat through. Now add the browned chicken back to the pot and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes or until tender. Stir occasionally making sure there is nothing sticking to the bottom of the pot. Right before serving remove the bay leave, spoon the Chicken Pipérade recipe on top of your favorite pasta or mash potatoes. Bon Appetite!

*Piment d’Espelette is such a rarity, that only 13 villages in France produce this gourmet pepper. Taste and Aroma…distinctive, fragrant, sweet and pleasant spiciness. Similar heat level to paprika at roughly 4,000 scoville heat units. (Or use good quality hot Hungarian paprika)