Chicken Fricassee With Vermouth

This is an elegant, velvety take on a traditional skillet-supper, perfect with a mound of fluffy white rice. Cooking this fricassee with the aperitif known as dry vermouth instead of the more traditional white wine results in a slightly sweeter and more aromatic sauce than you would ordinarily get. (White vermouth is composed of, among other things, white wine plus a bit of sugar, herbs and plants and, at times, the bark of trees.) But white wine will work as well.

Ingredients

• 1 three-and-one-half-pound, ready-to-cook chicken, cut into serving pieces
• Salt, if desired
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup coarsely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ¾ cup dry white vermouth
• ¼ cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1 cup carrots cut into fine, julienne strips, about two inches long
• 1 ½ cups loosely packed leeks cut into fine, julienne strips, about three inches long
• ½ cup heavy cream

• Nutritional Information

  • Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

    858 calories; 59 grams fat; 22 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 22 grams monounsaturated fat; 9 grams polyunsaturated fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 55 grams protein; 269 milligrams cholesterol; 311 milligrams sodium

  Note: Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available data.
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4 to 6 servings

Preparation

1. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat the butter in a skillet and add the chicken pieces skin side down. Cook over moderate heat about one minute without browning.
3. Scatter the onion over all and cook 30 seconds. Add the garlic and stir it around. Cook the chicken about four minutes, turning the pieces often in the butter.
4. Sprinkle the flour over all, turning the pieces so that they are evenly coated. Add the vermouth, chicken broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover and cook over moderate heat about 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, bring two batches of water to the boil for the carrots and leeks. Drop the carrots into one batch, the leeks in the other. Let the carrots simmer about one minute and drain. Let the leeks simmer about four minutes.
6. When the chicken has cooked for a total of 30 minutes (start to finish), add the carrots, leeks and cream. Let simmer about two minutes. Serve with rice.

About 1 hour 30 minutes