After a fabulous few days in stunning San Sebastian, I was inspired to make a Basque inspired dish, using the gorgeous Piment d'espelette, that I'd picked up in a local market.
Basque Chicken is a rustic chicken stew, that combines chicken with tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic and of course, Piment d'espelette.
This recipe is like a deconstructed version of the famous stew, with chicken breast marinated in a gorgeous mix of herbs and spices. It's then griddled and served on a delicious sauce of cherry tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic and of course, traditional herbs and spices.
If you can't get hold of Piment d'espelette, then Aleppo pepper or sweet paprika (or a mix) will work well.
Serves 4
For the griddled Piment d'espelette chicken
2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon of piment d'espelette (or Aleppo pepper or sweet paprika)
1 teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely grated
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Seasoning
For the Basque sauce (serves 2-4*)
3 Romano peppers
1 large white onion, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon of piment d'espelette (or Aleppo pepper or sweet paprika)
1 large garlic clove, crushed or finely grated
200g cherry tomatoes
100ml of white wine
Seasoning
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
To blacken the Romano peppers
- Preheat the oven to 200c.
- Cover a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Place the Romano peppers on the paper (I usually blacken 6 at a time and then use the other 3 for salads).
- Place in the hot oven for 15 minutes, then remove, turn over and return to the oven until they are nice and blackened (5th image).
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
To marinade the chicken
- If the chicken breasts are large, cut the chicken fillet (tenderloin) from the chicken breasts and save for another dish.
- Lay the chicken breasts, one at a time, on a chopping board between two sheets of cling film.
- Beat each chicken breast with a rolling pin until they are approx 1 - 1.5 cm thick.
- Place them in a large tupperware dish and add the remaining ingredients for the chicken (2nd image).
- Mix well (your hands are best for this) until the marinade is well distributed over the chicken breasts (3rd image).
- Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make the Basque sauce
- Once the peppers have cooled, peel off the skins, cut in half and brush the seeds out with a knife.
- Cut into long strips.
- Drizzle some olive oil into a lidded Sauté or frying pan over a medium low heat.
- Add the onion to the pan along with a tablespoon of finely chopped rosemary.
- Sauté over a gentle heat until the onion is translucent.
- Add the piment d'espelette and sauté for a couple more minutes before adding the garlic and the tomatoes.
- Stir for a couple more minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn then cover and leave for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove the lid and squish the tomatoes (whose skins should have started to split) with the back of a spoon.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble away for a couple of minutes, then add the peppers and some seasoning.
- Cover and simmer for a few minutes until the peppers are heated through.
To griddle the chicken
- Heat a griddle pan and once the pan is up to temperature, lay the chicken breasts onto the griddle and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. (They are cooked when there is no pink meat or juices and when the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 74C - 8th image).
- Remove the chicken fillets from the pan and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
To serve
- Spoon the sauce onto the plates and top with the griddled chicken.
- Scatter over the chopped parsley and serve.
