Poulet au poivre

My Christmas dinner was almost ruined when I found out that my oven was broken that very morning. I planned to make Roasted Chicken and Apple Berry Crumble, but obviously no oven-related foods should be served that night. So I thought hard what I would do with the whole chicken that I already bought and I came up with cooking le Poulet au poivre that my boyfriend's mother taught me when she was here in July. Here's how to cook this simple but very delicious dish.

poulet au poivre

Ingredients:

• One whole chicken (that's because I bought that whole, but in normal situation I would go with the chicken pieces or chicken fillet)
• Liquid creme. I used creme fraiche, but any other cooking creme will do
• Salt
• Garlic (I used 3)
• A lot of freshly ground peppers
• Some water

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken (obviously skip this part if you already have your chicken cut nicely by the butcher)
2. Cut the garlic finely
3. Heat a big sauce pan for a few minutes
4. Add just a lug of cooking oil just to get it going
5. Immediately put the chicken pieces in the pan to brown them. Turn them after a few minutes
6. When you are happy with the colour, remove the chicket and put them in a bowl. Don't turn off the heat
7. In the same pan, throw in the finely sliced garlic
8. Pour the cream and scrap the left over chicken base with a wooden spoon
9. Get the chicken back in and put some salt and a lot of pepper
10. Add some water and add more pepper
11. Wait until it is sort of boiling, then put the hob into low heat and close the lid.
12. Check it every 5 minutes and add peppers every time you do that. The more the better.
13. I can't tell you how long exactly it should finish, but as you feel that the sauce thickens and the taste is great, it is ready to serve.

There it is. Dead simple but soooo delicious. Since I didn't get this from a cookbook, I'm sorry I couldn't give the exact measurement of everything. I was just watching Nicole cooking and I was guessing the amount she put inside. The rest relied on my taste of good food. You should do the same technique too. It really works.