Bastogne chicken with leek and tarragon from Fred & Joris

If you ask star chef Joris Bijdendijk about the dish he has made most often in his life, he will probably answer with this roast chicken: Poulet de Bastogne with tarragon, leeks, and potatoes. You can find it in the cookbook 'Lekker Zondag' by Fred & Joris, which is now available in bookstores.

One stands on stage in front of a large audience until the early hours on weekends, the other does so behind the stoves of his Michelin-starred restaurants. But culinary friends Joris Bijdendijk and Freddy Tratlehner found each other in a shared love of cooking and eating – and specifically in that of blue cheese (and Mariah Carey). For more than eleven years, they have been giggling away in the kitchen and preparing the most delicious dishes together; at home and on joint vacations with their families.

Nice Sunday

And even though for the chef it usually isn't really the weekend until Monday, the friends agree that Sunday is the tastiest day of the week. Because it is generally the day when you take the time to cook, when nothing is required and everything is allowed.

Their joint cookbook 'Lekker Zondag' was born around that ultimate Sunday feeling. Featuring dishes such as brioche toast with shrimp and hot honey (there is, in fact, an entire chapter dedicated to brioche in the book), Asian soup, goat meat laab, and red snapper pil-pil.

Joris on this beloved roast chicken

Joris: “This is the most cherished dish in the Bijdendijk family: Poulet de Bastogne with leeks and tarragon. A simple classic that we eat endlessly in the Ardennes. The chicken simmers in the oven, the leeks and potatoes absorb all the juices, and the tarragon provides that recognizable, intense flavor. Normally, I roast the chicken whole, but here I am offering a shortcut that is a bit faster and a bit less hassle when the chicken is on the table.”

Recipe for Poulet de Bastogne (roasted chicken) from the Bijdendijk family

• Clean the leeks by making a lengthwise incision on the green side and washing out the sand. Tie them up in a bunch with kitchen twine. Blanch the leeks for about 5 minutes in boiling salted water, preferably in an oblong (fish poaching) pan, so that they do not need to be bent. Let them steam dry and drain.
• Brush the potatoes clean under cold running water. Peel the potatoes and cut each potato into slices as thin as possible. Place the slices against each other again, as if it were a whole potato again.
• Salt the chicken and then brown it in a pan skin-side down with a generous splash of olive oil and 50 grams of butter. Sprinkle the chicken with pepper after browning.
• Preheat the oven to 220 °C.
• Place the tarragon with the blanched leeks on top in a suitable oven dish and arrange the potatoes around it. Place the pieces of browned chicken on top. Distribute the remaining butter over the whole dish.
• Roast the chicken in the oven for 30 minutes, until a golden brown, crispy skin forms and the potatoes are cooked through. They should be slightly crispy on the outside and cooked and creamy on the inside. The leeks underneath the chicken also simmer nicely in the butter and the chicken juices.
• Remove from the oven and serve on a nice platter.

Lekker Zondag met Fred & Joris is now available for purchase for 34.99 euros.