frango a bras

Another Portuguese recipe for your face!

There was only one other person in our Lisbon cooking class: a 22-year-old guy named Ryan who is from Montana, goes to college in Germany but was doing a semester abroad in Lisbon. We could tell he genuinely wanted to learn how to cook and it was the most adorable thing ever.

I basically wanted to know his life story and be forever pen pals with him.

When we got to class, Ana asked us if we wanted to do a chicken dish or a pork dish for our first course. The GS and I were up for whatever and my soulmate Ryan voted for chicken so this is what we made.

As the recipe was coming together we were like.. is this Portuguese drunk food?

But then she used a ring mold for presentation which classed it up a little. I don’t have one at home so when I made it for one of our Sunday dinners with Kelly and Aaron it was more on the drunk food end of the spectrum. You do you. Louise clearly got drunk while I was cooking.

Frango a Bras

3-4 large chicken breasts

1 lemon

1 sweet onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs butter

1 bay leaf

2 cups potato sticks

3 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk

1/2 cup white wine

chopped cilantro

salt & pepper

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place in a baking dish and top with one clove minced garlic, butter, drizzle of olive oil and the juice and zest of one lemon. Cover the top of the baking dish with parchment paper or foil and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. My grocery store was weirdly out of chicken breasts so I had to get the “split chicken” which has the bone in. But I don’t really recommend that because it makes the shredding part more high maintenance.

This can be done ahead of time because you’ll want to let the chicken cool slightly in order to pull it. Break up the chicken using your fingers or two forks.

Thinly slice the onion and add it to a pan with olive oil, the other clove of minced garlic, and bay leaf. Turn on the heat and cook on medium low until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the shredded chicken to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir and add the white wine. Continue to cook for 3-5 minutes, then add a big handful of the potato sticks. Stir, and turn the heat to low.

Whisk together the eggs and add to the chicken/onion mixture, stirring constantly to allow the heat of the chicken to slowly cook the eggs. It should be nice and creamy. Add another handful of the potato sticks (Ana said this way you have them at different textures).

Serve with additional potato sticks and chopped cilantro.