Chicken with Walnut Sauce

Name: Chicken with Walnut Sauce
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: Chicken stock, preferably homemade (page 160), or water as needed; One 3- to 4-pound chicken, trimmed of excess fat; 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 celery stalks, chopped; 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, stems reserved and tied together; Salt and black pepper to taste; 1 thick slice day-old bread; 1 cup walnuts, blanched; 3 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 fresh hot red chile, stemmed and seeded, or 1 teaspoon pure chile powder, like ancho or New Mexico

December 14, 2011

Boiled chicken may seem a thing of the past, but if the chicken is good to begin with, you don’t overcook it, and you serve it with this classic walnut sauce— sometimes called tarator or skordalia—it can be quite fabulous. Make the chicken and the sauce in advance if you like; both are good at room temperature. And, if you prefer, sauté the chicken and serve it with this sauce; see, for example, Chicken Escabeche (page 294) for the cooking technique. If you want to make the sauce without stock, see page 600. Walnut sauce, or tarator, is good not only with chicken but also with plain steamed vegetables— that’s what I’d serve with this, perhaps along with a rice or potato dish.

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