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Active Time
1 hr
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Total Time
5 hr
We recommend using the freshest watercress possible — if not at its best, it can give the sauce a slightly bitter taste. (Try hydroponic watercress; it's generally better than conventionally grown supermarket cress.)
Tanis suggests skimming all the fat from the cooking liquid and serving the broth as a first-course soup, garnished with toasted slices of French bread.
Ingredients
Makes 4 to 6 servings
For chicken and vegetables
For green sauce
Special Equipment
Poach chicken:
Step 1
Pat chicken dry and sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff cavity with thyme and chill chicken, loosely covered, at least 3 hours (to allow seasoning to permeate meat).
Step 2
将鸡a 7- to 8-quart heavy pot, then add stock, water, onion, garlic, celery rib, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and gently simmer chicken, covered, until juices run clear when a thigh is pierced with a skewer and thermometer inserted into thickest part of a thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F, about 45 minutes. Transfer chicken to a large platter and let stand, loosely covered with foil, 20 minutes. Reserve cooking liquid in pot, uncovered, and discard onion, celery, garlic, and bay leaf.
Prepare leeks and potatoes while chicken cooks:
Step 3
Starting about 1/2 inch from root end, make a lengthwise cut through middle of each leek (keep leek intact). Wash leeks well under cold running water and drain. Halve potatoes.
Cook vegetables while chicken stands:
Step 4
Bring chicken cooking liquid to a boil, then add leeks, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and celery root and simmer, partially covered, until tender, about 20 minutes. Carefully transfer vegetables with a slotted spoon to platter with chicken and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. (Reserve cooking liquid for another use if desired cool, uncovered, then chill, covered.)
Make sauce while vegetables cook:
Step 5
Mash garlic and capers to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large heavy knife). Transfer to a food processor and pulse with parsley and watercress until herbs are finely chopped. With motor running, add oil in a slow stream and process until smooth. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
Step 6
Serve chicken and vegetables with sauce.
• Stuffed and seasoned uncooked chicken can be chilled, loosely covered, up to 1 day.
• Watercress sauce can be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered.
Leave a Review
Reviews (29)
Back to TopI haven't tried it yet, planning on it tonight. I typically don't try recipes with such varying reviews, but you all have me so curious. Drama at epicurious, haha!
Anonymous
New Orleans
4/7/2012
I had a big bag of left over pheasant hind quarters left over (the legs are tougher and sinuous so I thought they might be stewed). I changed this dish thusly: removed thighs from legs, seasoned with salt and pepper, browned in a large heavy pot and removed. Added a bit more olive oil and sauteed the veggies a few minutes. Added a tbs of tomato paste and cooked it down until the paste clumped up a bit. Added some white wine and a spash of vermouth, then chicken stock. Added browned bird bits with some fresh rosemary. Cooked until bird was falling off bone. At the end seasoned "expertly" with good quality sea salt and ample amount ground pepper. Result, a rich dish with layers of flavor.
jidstrom
2/14/2009
While apprenticing in several kitchens, the recipes always ended in "season expertly". You have to take responsibility for seasoning and tasting your food. Too many variables to make precise salt requirements. Unless you are baking, recipes should be considered a guidline to the finished product. The method and food combinations in this recipe are great!
Anonymous
Long Beach, CA
4/20/2007
Again, what a meal, many years, yet not tiring of it. I use a larger hen, 7 to 8 lbs. Great with a Cote du Rhone. We love this comfort meal. Watercress must be organic though.
CharlesBurns
Richmond, VA
12/30/2006
This was really good! I agree with the "Chicken Empress." As for all those people who keep saying how bland, insipid and uninspired this dish is, all I can say is...SALT!! There are only 1.5 teaspoons of salt called for in the entire recipe (which may be a typo)--yes, there are two tsp.s of rinsed capers in the sauce, but that is not nearly enough to add flavor. What about the cooking broth? I wonder how many people used low-sodium or sodium-free stock? Probably most of them; please add some salt before complaining about a recipe (and not Morton's table salt--buy some kosher salt and toss the table salt). I think I used a good extra two or three tablespoons of salt added to the cooking stock, and then a hefty addition while I was emulsifying the sauce (oil requires A LOT of salt)--which also got some extra blanched garlic. And to the person who looks for their own reviews, and then has to blame the moderator for the disappearance of their note, instead of just time moving on...please keep your vanity to yourself--and remember to salt!! Cheers!
Laurel
Washington, D.C.
7/30/2004
My husband said this dish makes me the Chicken Empress, a promotion from the Chicken Queen. The next time I make this, I will either double the chicken or halve the vegetables and green sauce. I also used 2 cloves of garlic in the sauce.
Anonymous
纽约布鲁克林
3/21/2004
to all those people who feel offended by the disappearing reviews. first, we should make it short and to the point. second, i think theres' only so much room per recipe for reviews, like only so many can be in along w/the recipe, and when the number is reached any new review will delete the earliest one. i doubt the people who monitor the website have the time to go around looking for remarks they don't like.
Anonymous
Sacramento, CA
9/6/2003
Wow! I wrote the original message about a year ago and came back to see what happened (just bored one day). Either way, I was appaled to see my post deleted. I did not utilize profanity or any other types of disrespectful language. I thank some of the reviewers here for backing my right to critique a recipe, as this web site's function is to allow fellow cooks to exchange ideas. I do not always write scathing reviews, just on real bad recipes such as this one. Yes, radioactivity may be a little flamboyant, but I was trying to get a point across. I hope this website upholds the integrity of sharing good, clean ideas.
Anonymous
Atlanta, GA
7/26/2003
I am an experienced cook and had high hopes of this recipe from reading the article, but we were very disappointed. I found it very bland. But the broth has proved useful.
Shirin
Montreal, Canada
7/6/2003
I found this dish plain and uninspired. I practically doubled all the herbs in the stock, and the chicken was indeed nicely moist and flavoured with thyme. Although the green sauce was excellent (I'll make it again to serve with chicken and/or fish), it couldn't save the fact that this dish was just plain, unadorned chicken and vegetables. Too labour-intensive for the result.
A.K.Martin
Los Angeles, CA
4/8/2003
This is a delicious, basic recipe for everyday cooking. I used arugula since I have that in my garden instead of watercress and used it sparingly. That adds a lemony zing. The chicken was flavorful, tender and I had plenty of broth left over to freeze. Please people, show some class and stick to the point in reviews!
Anonymous
Salem, SC
3/18/2003
FYI, this site will delete a message if it contains filthy language. I emailed Epicurious with such a request and they took care of it.
Anonymous
Durham, NC
3/18/2003
Surely a big city like Edinburgh has a decent market that carries hydoponically grown items like watercress and mache. It can't really be nothing but hagis and salt cod, can it?
Anonymous
3/12/2003
To L.A. cook on 3-5-03: You certainly can delete your message by not entering another. Figure it out!
Anonymous
3/7/2003
This is not very good. The watercress sauce was bitter, as promised - who the hell can get "hydroponic"? The broth was good primarily because it starts off with canned broth. Parsnips, new potatoes, carrots and leeks have very different cooking times, and I don't find that parsnips or leeks respond very well to boiling anyway. The parsnips do add a nice sweetness to the broth, though.
Anonymous
Edinburgh, UK
3/7/2003
