Chicken Marengo 

By Pierre Franey

Updated March 15, 2018

  • Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(2,153)
Comments
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In the middle of June 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte's troops were engaged in battle with Austrian forces near the small village of Marengo in northern Italy. The battle was fierce, or so the legend has it, and Napoleon, of course, emerged victorious. And hungry. He asked his chef to prepare a meal quickly and the cook scoured the countryside looking for foods to prepare. He scurried around and discovered a chicken, olive oil, tomatoes, herbs, eggs and crawfish. Within minutes, a fire was started and the chef prepared a quick sauté of the chicken with tomatoes, oil and herbs. It is said that he garnished the dish before serving it with a fried egg and crawfish. In my version, the chicken, cut into serving pieces, is simply browned in a little olive oil (I add a touch of butter to give it flavor) on both sides. I then prefer to add sliced mushrooms (there are those who declare that truffles were among the original ingredients), seasonings, wine, tomatoes and parsley and cook covered until done, about 10 minutes longer.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 1 3-pound chicken cut into serving pieces

  • Salt to taste, if desired 

  • Freshly ground pepper, to taste 

  • 2 tablespoons butter 

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil 

  • 1 ½ cups thinly sliced mushrooms (about ½ pound)

  • ½ cup finely chopped onion 

  • ½ teaspoon finely minced garlic 

  • 1 bay leaf 

  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried 

  • ½ cup dry white wine 

  • 2 cups cored and cubed red ripe tomatoes, or use canned tomatoes 

  • ¼ cup tomato paste 

  • ½ cup chicken broth 

  • 2 sprigs fresh parsley

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

15 grams carbs; 271 milligrams cholesterol; 938 calories; 28 grams monosaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 65 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 1544 milligrams sodium; 68 grams protein; 8 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the butter and oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces skin-side down. Cook until golden brown on one side, about five minutes. Turn the pieces and cook on the other side about two minutes. Pour off the fat from the skillet.

  3. Step 3

    Scatter the mushrooms over the chicken. Stir to distribute. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme and cook about 5 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon to dissolve the brown particles that cling to the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth and parsley. Bring to the boil. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Serve with rice and a tossed green salad.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
2,153 user ratings
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Comments

Charles Michener

I cooked this years ago with great satisfaction. However, the recipe as written contains one blunder: "Bring to the boil. Cover and cook 10 minutes." If you don't turn down the heat from boil to a low simmer, you'll end up with mush. A 15-minute simmer is advisable. And for a thicker sauce, remove the lid for the last couple of minutes of simmering. Adding a few pieces of carrots to the simmer will also help thicken the sauce and add a pleasantly sweet earthiness.

Joe Ledford

I am a 13 year old cook and I made this for my family.They all loved it and if I was going to make is again I would add more white wine just to get more flavor out of it because I tasted to me a little plain.

Pam O'Bryan

Bacon instead of butter ---
I have made the version of this called Poulet Marengo - same Napoleon story but they "could find no lard so used bacon instead" The chicken is browned in bacon drippings instead of oil or butter and the final dish has the crisp crumbled bacon on top. It's delicious !

Bob

I have made this several times, and it's wonderful. I found that not everything will fit in a 12" skillet. I use it to brown the chicken pieces (they just fit), transfer them to a plate, then do steps 2, 3 and 4 in a large sauté pan, then add the chicken pieces, cover and simmer. Unlike Boney, we like our chicken done a bit more than 10 minutes.

Deb Wood

I read the comments, and made a few adjustments to the recipe--took the chicken out of the skillet after browning, removed most of the fat, then sautéd the vegetables and stirred in the rest of the ingredients. As someone suggested, I melted in a little anchovy with the onion, before adding the mushrooms and garlic. It was a great flavor boost, but not distinguishable. Given the sorry state of tomatoes now, I used canned, with the sauce. Next time, I’ll try using fresh to make it less gloppy

John Bentley

Is this the same recipe that was in the New York Times Cookbook back in the day?

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