Braised Chicken with Rosemary and Potatoes

(sorry for my crummy pictures...I was way too excited to eat!)

For years I have been wanting to make braised chicken. Whenever I saw it on Food Network it just looked so appetizing but I never had the appropriate 'cooktop to oven' cooking vessel. So for Christmas this year my husband got me an awesome enameled cast iron dutch oven! My first use of this great present was, of course, braised chicken. I am a huge fan of the Good Things Catered blog so I went there first for a recipe where I found "Chicken Braised in White Wine". It sounded good, and I had most of the ingredients.

I can't even begin to tell you how great this dish was. It is hands down my absolute new favorite way of preparing chicken. It was just so flavorful and the potatoes were cooked so perfectly. Everything in this dish blended perfectly together and it just felt so provincial and comforting. I think that the addition of the fresh rosemary really added a lot to the already great flavors. Honestly, this dish was heavenly and I can't wait for next weekend so I can make it again! I had to a adapt this dish a bit (ie. using boneless chicken breasts...which I was a little worried about using...but they came out sooo good!) to make it fit what I had on hand/make it more to my tastes, but I just loved how it came out!!!

Ingredients
Adapted from Good things Catered, originally from Williams-Sonoma

1/3 c. all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 c. white wine
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
About 5-6 small/medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. On a plate, combine 1/3 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat evenly. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the olive oil to almost smoking. Add the chicken and brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes total and transfer to a plate.

Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the wine. Set the pan over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, to reduce, about 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary, shallot, bay leaf, salt, pepper and potatoes. Bring to a boil, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook until the chicken is very tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and place chicken and potatoes on a separate plate. Place Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add flour and whisk to combine, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Pour thickened braising sauce over chicken and serve immediately. Serves 2.

Note: During the cooking time in the oven, the sauce thickened itself up beautifully, so I omitted the last couple of steps and did not make a separate braising sauce to pour over the chicken.