Recipe from Melissa d’Arabian, available at . The recipe doesn’t include prices but using chicken thighs instead of breasts keeps it cheap, leaving you enough for a baguette to sop up the sauce. Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, cut in half through the bone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound slab bacon, sliced into large lardons (if your butcher does not carry slab bacon, use bacon that you’ve chopped into 1/2-inch pieces)
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups cooked Northern white beans (or one can, about 15.5 ounces)
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tomato, sliced very thinly
garlic bread crumbs, (recipe follows)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and dry the chicken well and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
In a large Dutch oven, over medium-low heat, add the bacon and slowly render the fat. Remove the bacon to a plate when crispy, leaving the fat in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Stir in the beans, bay leaf and thyme. Nestle the chicken thighs and bacon into the pot. Add the chicken stock, cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the lid and top the cassoulet with sliced tomatoes and the garlic bread crumbs. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, 15 minutes longer.
Garlic Bread Crumbs
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 slices slightly stale or dried bread, pulsed into crumbs in food processor
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
In a small saute pan over low heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir until the oil is fragrant, about 1 minute. Toss in the bread crumbs and cook until the bread crumbs start to turn golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and remove from heat.
