Lemon Thyme Chicken (a.k.a. Poulet au Thym Citronne)

This is one of the recipes from my French Farmhouse Cooking course that really rocked my world.... 

Lemon Thyme in the garden....So pretty...

This recipe hails from the Bresse area of Burgandy, France where the famous Poulet de Bresse (chickens) are raised. 

As per Wikipedia...

These birds are highly valued for their gamey depth of flavour, yet with fine, tender flesh and delicious, clean-flowing fat. Roughly 1.2 million are raised annually, but such is the demand inside France that few birds make it out of the country. As a premium product, they sell at a premium price: Poulet de Bresse command around 15 euro ($21US) per kilo at fine food markets.

The most typical examples, known as Bény, have a distinctive red crown, white feathers and blue feet, making up the colours of the French flag, making it an ideal national mascot.

This recipe is simple, but still packed with lots of flavour.  As you long as you don't burn the chicken when you brown it (which sometimes happens to me) it's truly a one-pot dish. 

The key with this recipe is to get a good brown on the chicken before stewing. 

If you don't have lemon thyme (I've never found it in my local grocery stores….I just happen to have it because I grow it every year in my garden) use regular thyme and add a bit more lemon juice (to taste) at the end.  You'll still get a lovely lemon and thyme chicken stew. 

I served this with a basic chive mashed potatoes and some glazed carrots. 

This is most definitely what I would call 'rustic comfort food'...

More Lemon Thyme pictures....it was so pretty that I couldn't stop photographing it!

Lemon Thyme Chicken (a.k.a. Poulet au Thym Citronne)

(Adapted from 'French Farmhouse Cooking' course manual - George Brown College)
Serves 5 

French Farmhouse Cooking

Holy blog delay Batman!  (yes, I know I've said that before)....

This summer has been crazy-busy, but so much fun.  I've been to two destination weddings (Cancun and Denver), and there has been lots of fun times and food with friends and family. 

This post has been a long time coming.  My review of the French Farmhouse Cooking course I took. 

I really enjoyed this class.  The recipes were more on the 'rustic' side of cooking, with a lot of great one pot dishes.  I picked up a lot of useful information and even learned how to prepare a rabbit!  (I don't think I'll be doing that again for a while, but it was a good experience...).  This course was 6 weeks long.