This chicken with mustard is famous. At least, it's famous in the Food52 Cookbook Club last July, when the group covered My Paris Kitchen. People raved about David Lebovitz's simple but delicious recipes, but remarked that his cookbook was heavily skewed towards "Fall/Winter" dishes. Since it was swelteringly hot here, I skipped cooking from My Paris Kitchen at the time, and then promptly forgot all about it. Nine months later, I finally picked up Lebovitz's marvelous cookbook again and tried the famed chicken with mustard (properly, poulet á la moutarde).
Seriously, this is delicious, everyone loved it. It's also really easy to make, once you let go of your fear of the blackened fond on the pan bottom. You can skip everything I've written and go straight to making it. It's an easy, low-maintenance dinner, good for any night of the week but also great for company.
The genius of this recipe lies in browning the dijon-covered chicken pieces in a hot pan, then using a nice white wine to transform the browned layer left on the bottom of the pan afterwards into a delicious pan sauce. Two types of mustard go into this dish, so you might think it's going to be too pungent, but the first addition of Dijon mustard helps flavor both the chicken and the sauce, while the final addition of two mustards: Dijon and whole-grain, together with a couple tablespoons of cream, gives the sauce a final dash of acidity and a thickened, silky body. Plus, there's smoky bacon involved in this delicious dish, so the extra mustard at the end provides brightness to cut through what might otherwise be a heavy dish.
For those paying attention to the photos, I made 1.5x the recipe since sometimes cookbook recipes are wrong about the number of servings you get out of a dish. Also, I couldn't find 4 chicken legs and 4 chicken thighs at the grocery store, they were only available in packs of 6... As a result, I did need to brown my chicken in two batches, which increased the amount of time this dinner took to make by about 5-10 minutes and allowed the fond (darkened bits) on the bottom of my pan to become even darker.
First, you'll toss your chicken thighs/legs (not breasts, they'll likely dry out) with the ½ cup Dijon, the paprika (I used smoked), fresh black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes in a big bowl, then set it aside (at room temperature is fine) while you get working on the bacon and onion steps.
Slice about 2-3 slices of bacon into strips (100 g is 2 thick-cut slices, but extra bacon is usually appreciated), and using a wide Dutch oven or saute pan, pan-fry the bacon strips over medium heat until cooked through and fully browned. Meanwhile, you can dice the onion, prepare your herbs, and locate the white wine you'll use to deglaze the pan.
Once the bacon is cooked, you'll remove it from the pan and set it aside in a large heat-proof bowl. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan, pour off the rest into a jar or dish (you might want some a little later in the cooking process). Add the onion to the hot pan, cook until softened, then add the thyme, continue cooking until it becomes fragrant and the onion is quite soft. It's okay if the onion browns, but don't let it char or blacken. This onion step should take about 7-10 minutes total. Once the onions and thyme are soft and fragrant, scrap them on top of the cooked bacon strips.
Finally, we've arrived at the browning of the chicken step. Depending on the size of your wide pan, you'll likely need to do this in two batches. If you have to shove or squeeze the chicken in just so to fit it all - that's a sign... do multiple batches. Add a little of the reserved bacon fat, then about half your Dijon-sauced chicken to the pan. Let it brown on both sides, about 4-5 minutes each side. Only flip the chicken once if you can help it. You should notice that the mustard sauce is sticking to the bottom of the pan and starting to turn a distressing shade of almost black. Don't panic! (I panicked.) It's supposed to turn that color and you'll appreciate the taste of the results. Remove the first batch of browned chicken pieces from the pan and add them to your large bowl holding bacon and onions. Add your second batch of chicken to the pan (still over medium heat) and repeat the browning process (or congratulate yourself on owning an amazingly wide Dutch oven/pan). The mustard sauce sticking to the bottom will continue to darken. It's still okay! Move the second batch to the large holding bowl. If necessary, repeat with any remaining chicken pieces.
Once all the chicken pieces are browned, and out of the pan, pour the wine into the pan (carefully) and use the liquid to immediately start scraping up the crusted-on sauce (the fond) on the bottom. This may seem like a lost cause, but it's not. Persist and you will be rewarded. Once all the fond is scraped up and whisked into the wine, add the browned chicken, bacon, and onion back into the pan. The liquid should already be close to a simmer, drop the heat to low, cover the pan, and cook for about 15-30 minutes (the timing is really dependent on the size of your pan and your chicken pieces), until the chicken is cooked through.
Finish the sauce by adding the cream, Dijon, and whole-grain mustard or mustard seeds and whisking them into the sauce to fully incorporate. Serve the chicken with mustard sauce immediately, ideally over something to soak up the amazing sauce, whether it's pasta or rice or vegetables.
Barely modified from My Paris Kitchen
Chicken with Mustard (Poulet a la Moutarde)
Ingredients
- ½ cup (135 g) Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
- 4-5 grinds freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or other red pepper flakes optional
- 8 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and/or drumsticks
- 1 cup (100 g) diced smoked thick-cut bacon about 2 slices
- 1 small onion peeled and finely diced (yellow or red)
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ½ teaspoon dried
- 1 cup (250 mL) white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon grainy mustard or whole mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream or creme fraiche you could also use regular milk
- warm water for thinning, if necessary
- fresh flat-left parsley or chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the ½ cup of Dijon mustard with the paprika, pepper, salt, and chile pepper flakes (if using). Add the chicken pieces and toss them in the mustard-spice paste, lifting the chicken skin and getting some of the paste underneath.
- Place your largest, widest skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the diced bacon, and cook, stirring frequently, until it is cooked through and starting to brown. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon fat and set aside the rest (or keep for a different use).
- Add the diced onion and cook until it becomes soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme, continue cooking another few minutes, then scrape the onion-thyme mixture into a large bowl.
- Add a little of the reserved bacon fat (or olive oil), and place the chicken pieces in the pan in a single layer. If they don't all fit, fry them in two batches. Continuing to cook over medium-high heat, brown the chicken pieces well on each side. The coloring that you are adding to the chicken (and the dark layer (fond) forming on bottom of the pot) is the source of the flavor of this dish.
- Remove the chicken pieces from the pan, and add them to the bowl together with the onions. Slowly add the wine to the hot pan, using the liquid and a flat wooden utensil to scrape up the darkened layer on the bottom of the pan. This may take a few minutes and seem hopeless, but keep trying (gently) and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Once you have the dark bits incorporated into the liquid, return the chicken pieces to the pan, as well as the onion and bacon pieces. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the pan, and stirring occasionally, cook for about 15-30 minutes (depending on your particular chicken pieces), until the chicken is cooked through.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the final 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, the whole grain mustard/mustard seeds, and the creme fraiche/cream. If you find the sauce to be too thick, add a little warm water (or chicken stock) to loosen it. Sprinkle the chopped parsley or chives over the top and serve, ideally over fresh pasta or another starch (see headnote for more suggestions).
