Chicken And Olive Ragout With Dijon Potatoes

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 4 slices bacon, diced
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 carrots, chopped in chunks
• 1/2 cup shallot, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups dry wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 large red pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup olive, mixed black and green olives, pits removed
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• fresh parsley (to garnish) or thyme (to garnish)
• 4 lbs potatoes
• salt
• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream, warmed
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 in a large pan or deep skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat until crisp.
• 2 remove bacon and drain on paper towel, set aside. drain most of fat from pan leaving 1 tablespoon, reserve excess fat.
• 3 add chicken to pan and brown on all sides, do not crowd the pan, transfer browned pieces to a bowl.
• 4 use more of reserved fat as necessary to brown all chicken. set chicken aside.
• 5 reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining fat and/or butter.
• 6 add carrots, shallots, garlic, thyme(i prefer fresh thyme) pepper and salt.
• 7 saute for approximately 10 minutes or less if you prefer carrots a little crunchy.
• 8 sprinkle flour over vegetable mixture and cook stirring for 2 minutes.
• 9 gradually add wine and chicken stock, stirring gently to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
• 10 bring to boil, stirring often for 5 minutes, until sauce thickens.
• 11 return chicken with any juices in the bowl to the pan, reduce heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
• 12 add red pepper, olives and mustard.
• 13 simmer another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and sauce is thickened.
• 14 taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
• 15 crumble reserved bacon into the mixture and serve over the dijon mashed potatoes.
• 16 note: the flavours of this ragout benefit from being made a day ahead and refrigerating over night. i do not add the bacon until just before serving, so pieces will remain crunchy. this dish freezes well. prepare the complete recipe, spoon potatoes around the edge of a large 12-16 cup casserole, spoon chicken mixture in the centre, cover with plastic wrap and wrap entire dish in foil. freeze up to 2 months. thaw in refrigerator for 48 hours and bake 350 degrees for about 1 1/2hours, until chicken and potatoes are hot and bubbly.
• 17 to prepare potatoes:.
• 18 peel and cut into chunks, put into large pot, cover with water add salt and bring to a boil, simmer until tender, 20 minutes.
• 19 drain and return to low heat, shaking pot to dry potatoes for 1 minute.
• 20 remove from heat, mash and gradually mix in cream and mustard.
• 21 season with salt and pepper to taste.