put a little zip in your step … Haitian Poulet Creole

I had friends over for dinner recently, where I tried out a bunch of dishes I’ve been working on, exploring the foods of maligned cultures that I know little about. Turns out, they knew little about them too. Haiti, El Salvador and all the countries that make up Africa, few knew much about the food and it lead to lively discussions, great conversation and a really enjoyable meal. Food has the power to do that, bring people together. Today’s post is from Haiti and it is a hell of a good stew – Poulet Creole. All the lively flavors interwoven in the country’s history, namely from waves of African and French immigrants, come together in this dish in the best possible ways.

The basis of a lot of Haitian dishes, I’m learning, is peppers (both sweet and hot), onions and herbs, particularly thyme. This dish has all this many times over – red and green bell peppers, onions, scallions, habanero chilies, parsley, thyme. The complex flavors make it seem much more difficult than it is.

In truth, it’s a pretty simple dish. A whole chicken is cut into pieces and marinated in a fragrant mixture of garlic, scallions, parsley, thyme and habanero for several hours. It’s bright, fresh and pungent and adds just the right amount of heat. The chicken is then removed from the marinade and well browned. Sweet peppers and onions are sautéed until soft and tender, scraping up all the browned chicken bits along the way. Then some tomato paste, lime juice, water, that reserved marinade to punch it up and suddenly, with a few easy steps, there’s a sauce. The chicken goes back in for a spell, the peppers and onions become meltingly tender and in less than ½ hour later, there’s a simple yet complex dish that is bright, a little spicy with well rounded flavors and tender chunks of chicken.

For half my guests, this was the favorite dish of the night. (The other half favored the Senegalese Peanut & Chicken Stew and I would have been happy with the entire pot of greens in front of me.) As they eagerly scooped up the leftovers to take home, I was happy to share this meal with them. The peanut stew, the silky greens, and this, the spicy chicken with a bit of a tang. It was a good night.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: SHARE A MEAL. Cooking for others is something I very much enjoy. A group of interesting people around the table, sharing good food and good conversation is one of the very best things. We had a dinner of unfamiliar and delicious foods and discussed this political state we find ourselves in. At least the food was good.

other dishes from this series: Moroccan Baghrir, (1,000 Hole Crepes), Nigerian Jollof Rice, Haitian Beef Patties, Senegalese Peanut & Chicken Stew, Ethiopian Collard Greens,
nine years ago: Khachpuri (cheesy Georgian bread)
eight years ago: Marmalade Yougurt Cake
seven years ago: BBQ Chicken Bao
six years ago: Passionfruit Pavlova
five years ago: Nutella Torte
four years ago: Mexican Chocolate Cookies
three years ago: Rumaki (chicken livers and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon)
two years ago: Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
last year: Cacio e Pepe Biscuits

POULET CREOLE (HAITIAN STEWED CHICKEN) – adapted from this recipe
Serves 6-8
Keep in mind the chicken needs a 4 hour marination. Plan accordingly. Note: a whole chicken has 8 pieces: 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks and 2 breasts. As the breasts are larger than the other pieces, I’ll often split them in two. In this instance, as I was serving this dish as part of a larger dinner, I split each breast into 3 pieces and the thighs each into 2 for a total of 14 smaller pieces. Of course you don’t have to start with a whole chicken – buy pieces, whatever is on sale or whatever you prefer.

1 (3-4 lb.) whole chicken, cut into pieces (see note above)

for the marinade:
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 scallions, roughly chopped
3 sprigs parsley, roughly chopped
1 sprig thyme, stemmed
2 habanero or scotch bonnet chiles, stemmed and quartered
½ cup water

for the stew:
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup water
¼ cup fresh lime juice
ground black pepper, to taste

for garnish: 1 scallion, finely chopped
for serving: white rice

1. For the marinade: Place chicken in a large Ziploc bag.
2. In blender or small food processor, purée the salt, garlic, scallions, parsley, thyme, habaneros and water.
3. Pour marinade over chicken, seal bag and place in a bowl (in case of leaks).
4. Let marinate 4 hours in the refrigerator.
5. For the stew: Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat.
6. Remove the chicken from the marinade, scraping off any excess. Reserve marinade.
7. Add chicken to pot in a single layer and cook, turning once, until golden browned. Do not crowd – do in batches if needed.
8. Add green and red peppers and onions to the pot, season with a good pinch each of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until soft, 8-10 minutes.
9. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
10. Return chicken to pot, along with reserved marinade, water and lime juice and bring to a boil.
11. Cover slightly, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender, 25-30 minutes. Do not let boil.
12. Remove from heat, taste and season with salt, pepper and additional lime juice if needed.
13. Serve hot with rice.