Chicken Braised with Dewberries and Lemon Thyme

Do you have a skinned chicken on your hand, after you made Chef Richard Knight’s Chicken Onion? Cut it up (see demo here) and braise it in your favorite Dutch oven with lemon thyme and fresh dewberries. Or, if you can find them, use mulberries! These elegant long berries are delightfully sweet. Easier-to-find blackberries work very well too.

Dutch versus French

This type of pot (heavy-duty cast iron with a lid, enameled or not) is called a Dutch oven in the US, a cocotte in France, a casserole in the UK, and braadpan in Dutch. Technically, a Dutch oven has a (seasoned) cast iron interior. What is on the market as a French oven is the same as a Dutch oven, but with an enameled interior. With me so far? Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter: when it comes to cooking, they’re interchangeable and a matter of choice (or what you have). On the outside, it is an entirely different matter, and what makes it so hard to pick the right pot: Is it that cobalt blue, warm red, burned orange, spring green or is it simply white?

By Francine Spiering / Photography By Francine Spiering | May 21, 2018

Ingredients

1 whole pasture-raised chicken
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 large red onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1 bay leaf
about 10 small sprigs of fresh lemon thyme
4-5 garlic cloves
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup fresh dewberries (substitute: blackberries or mulberries)
salt and pepper to taste
½ tablespoon raw local honey (optional)
fresh parsley and a handful fresh berries to garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°

Prepare the chicken (check out this video on how to skin and portion a chicken): Portion the chicken into thighs, drums, breasts and wings. Keep the backbone for stock!

Season the chicken on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in your Dutch oven and brown the chicken over medium heat, a couple pieces at a time. Take out the browned pieces and keep them in a tray.

In the same pan, cook the onion until soft. Add the garlic and pour in the balsamic and cook for 1-2 minutes, scraping any bits from the bottom. Add bay leaf, lemon thyme, chicken stock and dewberries and bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces back in. Stir gently to mix. Cover the pan with the lid, place in the preheated oven and cook for 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Take the chicken pieces out (keep on the side) and return the pot with the braising liquid to the stove. Over medium-high heat, reduce the liquid until it thickens somewhat (about ¾ of the original amount). Add the honey (optional). Season to taste, put the chicken back in. Garnish with fresh herbs and berries and serve!

Serve this with a light and airy potato puree or pasta, along with an abundance of delicious seasonal vegetables: grilled fennel, sliced radish, sautéed rainbow chard, etc.