Skip to main content

Potted Chicken Rillettes

Today is Christmas Eve.  Crazy. Yes, I know everyone always says how fast it happened. It actually did happen fast this year.  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was shorter this year than most years.  I just finished my shopping today.  I have it in print now...next year I'm starting early.  In fact, I think I'll start right after Christmas!

We spend Christmas Eve with Daryl's sister and her family.  This year we were asked to bring an appetizer so we decided to bring Chicken Rillettes.  Years ago we ate at a wonderful restaurant here in  the Twin Cities called Craftsman.  We ordered pork rilletes as an appetizer and were blown away by how good they were.  Flash forward to this year when we were at Tilia in Minneapolis, and again ordered rilletes as an appetizer, again we were blown away.  After that meal I was in search of the recipe.  I found one in of course, bon appetit!  We made it this summer and fell in love immediately.

It is a meal that takes a couple days to make so you have to plan ahead.  You may have started to notice, if you have looked at any of our other recipes, that Daryl's recipes tend to take awhile to make.  His hobby is cooking.  It used to be golf, but the aches and pains that come along with it have side lined his playing a bit.  Those of you familiar with golf know that it is an all day sporting event well, cooking is now Daryl's all day sporting event.   He started the rillettes on Sunday, and just finished them last night.  He was also up on and off all night last night baking bread to go with it.

Ingredients:
BRAISED CHICKEN
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme plus 4 large thyme sprigs
  • 4 bay leaves (preferably fresh); 2 finely chopped, 2 left whole
  • 1 5-pound whole chicken (preferably organic), rinsed, patted dry
  • 1 cup chopped carrot
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 6 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth






Browning the whole chicken.

FOR BRAISED CHICKEN
  • Combine 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons chopped thyme, and 2 chopped bay leaves in small bowl. Rub herb mixture all over chicken; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and chill overnight.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pot and cook until browned on all sides, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add carrot, celery, onion, and garlic; sauté until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Stir in 4 thyme sprigs and 2 whole bay leaves. Add wine and boil until almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add enough broth to come halfway up sides of chicken; bring to boil. Cover pot; place in oven and braise until chicken is tender, turning chicken once, about 1 hour.
  • Remove pot from oven; transfer chicken to bowl and cool slightly. Strain braising liquid into large saucepan. Boil until liquid is reduced to 2 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes. Remove skin and bones from chicken; shred chicken meat into bite-size pieces and reserve for chicken rillettes. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill chicken and braising liquid separately.
  • Cooked chicken.


Ingredients:

CHICKEN RILLETTES

  • 1 cup
  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped shallots (7 to 8 ounces)
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • Shredded braised chicken (from recipe above)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
  • Crusty country bread slices or baguette slices
  • Purchased pickles

Sauteing the shallots.


FOR CHICKEN RILLETTES

  • Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes. Add remaining 3/4 cup butter to skillet and allow to melt. Stir in tarragon and thyme, then shredded chicken and reserved 2 1/2 cups braising liquid. Simmer until chicken is very moist and tender and liquid is slightly reduced but some liquid still remains, about 5 minutes. Season mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Cool slightly. Mix in parsley and chives.
  • Pack chicken rillettes into large glass jar or divide among smaller jars. Chill uncovered until cold, then seal jar and keep chilled. DO AHEAD Can be made 5 days ahead. Keep chilled. Bring to room temperature before serving.
  • Serve rillettes with crusty bread and pickles.
  • Rillettes in mason jars, and the homemade bread.  Don't forget to serve it with pickles - perfection!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

It really was as good, or even better then it looks! Tonight's meal is all Daryl!  He asked me what I wanted and my response was something like, "Meat sounds good, clean, not a lot of cheese, cream etc..." and what he came up with was  Coffee Rubbed Filet Mignon with Ancho Mushroom Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts.   Did I marry a good man or what?!  I also thought another Cesar Salad sounded good so, you guessed it - we're having one!   We are huge fans of Bobby Flay and we chose his recipes a lot.  I have said before that his recipes can be pretty time consuming, but there are days when that can be fun, and this was one of those days.  Daryl enjoys the steps that he has in his recipes, it makes it interesting for him, and a it is a challenge.  I am grateful to Bobby because of him I get to eat awesome food! SMOKED RED PEPPER SAUCE Yields: 2 ½ cups 4 roasted red bell peppers, chopped ½ small red onion, coarsely ...
1 comment
Read more

Mom's Old Fashioned Chow Mein

This was a recipe my mom had in her "rotation" and it was always a highlight.  She would use leftover pork roast as the protein, which really made it tasty.  We don't eat much pork in our house, another one of my "rules" which I don't want to bore you with at this point. You could just as easily use ground chicken, but I think that the pork just adds a better flavor.  Sometimes stores will have a chow mein meat mixture, which is just course ground pork.    What we decided to do was grind a pork roast.   The recipe calls for 3 pounds of it, but I don't like that much meat, the best part of the dish, in my opinion, are the vegetables.  Also, when my mom gave me this recipe it only listed a few of the amounts of things.  Another great example of her saying, "Just use a little of this and little of that..." which now I totally understand!  I have given amounts here just to make it easier, but you can obviously do what you want too!  (This...
Post a Comment
Read more

Seared Tuna, Yellowtail and Salmon with Three Dipping Sauces

Simply delicious! These were pan seared on the stove.  This is a perfect light summer meal!  I have made it using the grill and the stove top and they were both fabulous!  I am not a huge fan of the Orange-Ginger Sauce but I included it here just in case you were interested in trying it.  There is nothing off putting about it, I just don't care for the orange flavor with the fish.  For a side dish I simply have either roasted asparagus or a corn salad.  (See separate post)  Also, the fish monger at Coastal Seafood informed me that yellowtail is synonymous with Hamachi (the one on the right).  I enjoyed the salmon and the tuna more so the second time I made this I only used those two, again your preference.(Another Bobbly Flay fav) Ingredients 1 pound skinless salmon fillet, sliced into 1-inch think strips 1 pound skinless tuna loin, sliced into 1-inch thick strips 1 pound yellowtail fillet, sliced tino 1-inch-thick strips Canola oil...
Post a Comment
Read more