This is a little different from the Les Halles version, which I've made a few times before.
Basque chicken is one of those dishes that just works for me. Chicken in an easy-to-prepare, rich sauce that's a nice change from all the dairy fat-laden things I've been making lately.
Tonight I worked with bone-in chicken thighs. Two reasons behind that: they're cheaper than boneless thighs and, too, of course, meat cooked on the bone tastes better. The bones adding goodness and awesomeness and etcness to the sauce.
Firstly, I took the chicken thighs, lightly seasoned them with salt and pepper and browned them in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Then turned the heat down and cooked them for about 15-20 minutes. I removed them from the pan, drained the fat from the pan and then deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine (the recipe in the book doesn't ask for this but cleaning the bottom of the pan was necessary).
I then sauteed a large onion (diced). Waited five minutes or so then added 100 g prosciutto (the recipe calls for Bayonne ham but I've never seen that anywhere in Melbourne, so far as I can remember, and Google told me prosciutto is a fine substitute), 2 capsicums (diced) and 2 cloves of garlic (crushed). Waited another five minutes and then added 5 tomatoes (peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped) and a bouqet garni of thyme, parsley and bay. This mixture was sweated with the lid on for 20 minutes.
Overall, the dish was okay. I think the sauce needed to be cooked for longer to get a smoother consistency. That or I could have attacked it with a stick blender. If I had one. Yeah. Too, I should have diced the onion more finely and given the tomato and capsicum more time to break down.
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