Chicken Diable

I did it again-- found an irresistible cookbook.  Somewhere, there is a publisher gloating over people like me.  This time it was Essential Pepin, a collection of recipes from Jacques Pépin, who had a cooking show on PBS (I may also have received DVDs of his show as a gift...).  So when I decided I was going to cook chicken, I flipped through until I found a recipe that looked doable (meaning that I had all the ingredients for it-- French food is often surprisingly simple).  The winner: an intriguingly-named recipe Chicken Diable.  I don't speak French, but I was able to guess (and later confirm) that "diable" means either "devil" or "diabolical".  So, Chicken with a kick?  Well, yes and no.  French folks aren't much for heat, so this isn't spicy by most standards (not even mine), but it does have a great tang, and you ramp up the amount of Tabasco you put in if you want a bit more heat.  You could also think of it as devilish because of the vinegar-- that stuff fumes!  Below is my adaptation of this delicious dish.

Chicken Diable

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4 tsp each of salt and pepper

1 Tbsp each of olive oil and butter

4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped (or about 1 Tbsp)

1/4 C red wine vinegar 

3/4 C tomato sauce

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1/2 Tbsp mustard

Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the chicken, and rub it in for good measure.  Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy skillet until hot.  Add the chicken, cover, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and allow to cook (covered again) until it is cooked through.  Set the chicken aside and keep warm.

Using the same pan (which should now have chicken-y goodness all over), cook the garlic for about 30 seconds-- don't brown it, but soften the flavor a tiny bit.  Pour the vinegar into the pan swirling it around so that all the good stuff stuck on the pan gets loosened--"deglazing".  A quick word of advice: don't stand directly over the pan with your eyes wide open unless you want to cry.  Also, make sure you've got some sort of ventilation.  I've set off a fire alarm with vinegar fumes.  After 1-2 minutes of cooking, most of the vinegar should have evaporated.  Add the water and tomato sauce, bring to a boil, and cover.  Keep boiling over high heat for about a minute.  Add the Tabasco and mustard, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  I also added some more vinegar.
Serve the chicken with with sauce on top, garnished, if you like, with fresh tarragon or parsley.

Pépin suggested serving this alongside a salad.  I took him up on that-- after all, the sauce ingredients are rather reminiscent of a vinaigrette.  I mixed together some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, tomato sauce, mustard, garlic salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar to make a fantastic dressing.  If you chill it, the olive oil sorta solidifies, so any leftover dressing makes an excellent cold spread.

Notes:  I didn't actually have red wine vinegar.  I used a combination of balsamic and cider vinegar that would probably send Mr. Pépin screaming off into the night.  (I also at one point grabbed the wrong bottle and started to shake in some raspberry vinegar-- the point here is that it's fairly forgiving.)  
     If you're interested in using a whole chicken, or assorted pieces of chicken, you're in luck-- that's usually how this is made.  You just need to cook the dark meat a bit longer than you do the breasts.  

I really liked this sauce.  I loved how tangy the vinegar made it, which is why I added more at the end.  It's not a very spicy dish, but it is quite flavorful, and simple to make.