Mamou style Chicken Sauce Piquante

Tonight my wife is cooking one of my favorite of her specialties - chicken sauce piquante.  She uses her grandmother's recipe.  It is not nearly as tomato-based as what I grew up with, and is so simple that it's hard to believe how good it is!
 
Recipe:
 
8-12 chicken thighs (skin on/bone in)
1 large onion
1 medium bell pepper
1-2 cloves garlic
1 small can tomato sauce
cayenne pepper
salt
black pepper
vegetable oil
most important - cast iron dutch oven!!!!
 
My wife uses her grandmother's "black iron pot" for this dish.
1.  trim thighs of excess fat and season with cayenne and salt (liberally)
2.  Heat pot until very hot!  Add veg oil to cover bottom.  It should shimmer
3.  Place half of thighs, skin side down into oil and leave alone.  Brown heavily.  Flip and brown heavily again.  Do not over fill pot.  The pieces should look almost, but not quite, burned.  Remove.
4.  Repeat with second batch of thighs. Remove
5. Add onions/bell pepper/garlic to pot; add more oil if needed.
(my wife's family does not use celery;  I know the trinity is usually essential, but not here.)  Saute over medium heat until veg are all very soft (limp limp).
6.  Add 1 small can tomato sauce.  DO NOT add more.
7.  Cook veg & tomato sauce down until it is thickened.
8.  Return chicken to pot and add water to just barely cover.
9.  Simmer until thighs are almost falling off of bone.
10.  Check for seasoning (only salt and cayenne).
11.  Serve over white rice with white beans and corn on the side.
 
I know this sounds too simple to be good, but it really is.  I've tried adding to the recipe (mushrooms/celery/roux/bay leaf/etc.) but it just doesn't come out as good as Leah's.
 
Enjoy
 
cy
 
 

Sounds like a wonderful recipe. We are not "thigh" people, so could I substitute chicken breasts?

ann, to me chiken thighs were always the deal breaker.  No matter how much i had a desire for chicken and how good it looked and smelled I would eat it only if required to be polite.  i did learn that a long simmer in a good sauce changes the equation.  To me thigh always tasted like blood and the skin just seemed wrong.(I was lucky with my lie partner.  She refuses white meat-now we can but whole chickens!).
i found that close trimming of the skin and fat, I remove the bone then diiped in seasoned flour and then sear them thoroughl  Til a beautiful golden brown on all sides.  Somethhing about the bone being gone changes the taste.  There may be a lot of blood still close to the bone.  Gentle braisng not only makes it melt in your mouth but also makes the meat almost white.  I can actuall do a few dishes that way that really enjoy!

I happen to like thighs now, but didn't until I had kids.  As a child I only ate the breast.  When I had a family and was a beginning teacher, I couldn't (or wouldn't) afford to buy just breasts, so I began buying whole chickens and butchering them myself.  Cooking a whole chicken for the family, I usually had to give the white meat and drumsticks to the children and wife, so I got the wings, back or thighs.  They are now my favorite parts!  A sauce piquante with a whole chicken is great!  It's just not how the wife cooks it.
 
 

Ok, I will definately try the recipe, as is. I , personally am beginning to like the dark meat, so Bob will have to try the recipe.If not, he will go hungry!!! I understand the blood by the bone-I had a customer at my deli that returned every rotisserie chicken because of that.I explained how it worked, and after she complained of raw chicken( and she had gotten many free) I told her to return the chicken as I wanted my employees to see what they were doing wrong.( They werent) She brought one back-almost every morsel eaten.She never came back....oh, and by the way, being very particular, I always checked the temperature-especially in the thigh!!!

Thank you so much!

Sounds like my kind of recipe.

Looks yummy, kind of like shrimp creole except it contains chicken instead of shrimp.

Breasts have become so tasteless. Thighs are now the best part.

"Rice & Gravy" are a staple of Cajun cuisine.  I actually enjoy the rice, white beans, and gravy more than the chicken.  In fact, seeing how quickly the pot is going down, that's probably what I'll be having for supper.
 
BTW...pickled jalapenos or other peppers in vinegar go just fine on rice and gravy.
 
cy

That sounds good! I love Chicken Thighs and especially Boneless.Its hard to screw up a Chicken Thigh but My Wife could and thats why She's not allowed to cook.