Marie Antoinette's Tarragon Vinegar Chicken

April 21, 2025
by Cindy Williams
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- Dinner
Cuisine: French
Difficulty: Easy

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Prep Time

Including the potatoes, about an hour.
Cook Time

1 hour
Serving

2
View

36

I was drinking a wine named after Marie Antoinette while I was cooking this, and of course, while I ate it. I even used a little of the wine in the sauce. The wine (curated and sent to me by my sister) is delicious. One on-line description of the wine said:

If you like flavorful, elegant, dry whites, this Pouilly-Fuissé is the perfect wine for you. This Pouilly-Fuissé is outstanding, exhibiting real terroir coupled with fresh, pure fruit flavors. It is our favorite vintage in 10+ years! Made of 100% Chardonnay, ‘Marie Antoinette’ Pouilly Fuissé is made from grapes grown in several parcels belonging to the Vincent family, and the wine is named after winemaker Antoine Vincent’s grandmother, Marie Antoinette Vincent. The soils of the different vineyards impart their own special characteristics into the wine. The stony soils of the Vergisson Vineyards provide the beautiful acidity, elegance and minerality, while the clay soils in the Fuissé vineyard give the wine its full-bodied structure and generous fruit character. The wine is vinified separately in small oak barrels by Antoine, and then blended to achieve a well-balanced Pouilly Fuissé, combining all the wonderful characteristics of the different ‘terroirs’.

Of course, I have no idea whether Marie Antoinette ever ate anything like this chicken dish, although it is well documented that potatoes became much more popular during her tenure as Queen because she loved them so much. (The lemony potatoes that go in this dish are scrumptious and pair perfectly with the Pouilly-Fuisse.) Lest we forget, Marie Antoinette was the last Queen of France prior to the French Revolution. She drew a lot of criticism for her over-the-top spending habits: she was said to have bought 300 dresses in a year and was known as Madame Deficit for contributing to the fiscal ruination of her country. In 1793, she was beheaded, a pretty tough punishment for her indulgent behavior, if you ask me. In fact, as evidenced by my poodle Josephine, I really don’t see anything wrong with being just a little spoiled.

Directions

How to prepare chicken thighs: First, dry them well! Then trim off the extra skin on the thighs. This is very important.

Step 1

Roast the potatoes: Cut them in half, then put them in a casserole dish and squeeze the lemon juice over them. Pour some olive oil and a little water over them also. Roast at 375 degrees for thirty minutes or so. Check to make sure they don't burn and add water as necessary. Remove them from the oven and set aside.

Step 2

Boil the onions for 2 minutes, then drain and cool a bit, and then pop them out of their skins and set aside.

Step 3

Lightly dredge the chicken thighs in seasoned flour. Heat a glug of oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Saute the thighs until golden brown on the skin side, flip them and cook another 4 or 5 minutes. Remove them from the pan and set aside.

Step 4

Wipe out the pan. Add a fresh swirl of oil. Saute the onions for a minute or two. You can add the garlic here, also.

Step 5

Remove onions and garlic from the pan.

Step 6

Make the sauce: Pour the white wine into the hot pan and let it deglaze the pan. Pour in the vinegar. Reduce it by about half. Pour the chicken broth in and reduce it some more, until it thickens and almost coats the back of a spoon.

Step 7

Now you're ready to put the thighs back in the pan, along with the onions, potatoes and garlic. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for thirty minutes COVERED with aluminum foil. Then remove the foil and roast for another 30 minutes.

Step 8

Pour the sauce/gravy into a saucepan and reduce it. Use your cornstarch slurry to thicken as desired. Serve the chicken with the potatoes, onions and some of the sauce poured over it.

Conclusion

The night after I made this, I served it over rice made in my Romertopf clay cooker and after the rice cooked at 425 degrees for an hour, I added the leftover chicken and cooked it another half hour. I heated the sauce separately and poured it over everything, and it was delicious!