Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme. The French name sounds so much prettier, does it not? After wandering around the Internet a bit this week, I saw Deb’s creation of Coq au Vin over at Smitten Kitchen. I’ve been wanting to make that dish for awhile now, but for this particular occasion, I was looking for more of a one pot wonder.
Off the shelf came Julia, and I started looking through the chapter of casserole-roasted chicken and settled on Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme. I had my hesitations, however. You see, I’m not all that crazy about bacon. I know some people consider that blasphemy, but I stand by my words. (I did Atkins for a year and ate enough bacon to cover a lifetime, ok?) Bacon had probably held me back from trying more of Julia’s recipes (including the coq au vin), but that’s all changed now.
The woman had a way with food, that’s for sure. Or maybe it’s the “boil the bacon” technique, which is supposed to remove some of the smoky/salty taste. I enjoyed the more delicate hint of bacon, but if you want to be hit over the head with bacon flavor, you may want to skip the boiling step. If that doesn’t change your mind, there’s always the look of simmering bacon. It’s absolutely disgusting, and if I didn’t place 100% trust in Julia, I likely would have given up at this point and just roasted the chicken.
