Tarragon Chicken

A blogging friend had shared with me that she was enjoying Laura Caulder's program, French Food at Home which comes on the TV every day about 12:30 EST. Since I am not usually home at that time I have begun taping the program and watching in the evening when there is absolutely nothing of interest on the TV which is quite often. I too have come to really enjoy Laura's program and purchased one of her books by the same name as the program, French Food at Home.

Like many of us I am always looking for new and different ways of preparing chicken and this book had a wonderful recipe for Tarragon Chicken, typically French but oh so easy to prepare. This book was published in 2003 and I believe she has since published another book by the same name which follows her program. This was the first of Laura's books that I have bought and it is an excellent book.

 

 

 

 

Tarragon Chicken

 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chicken (about 3 pounds/1.4 kg), cut into 8 pieces

Salt and pepper

About 3/4 cup/175 ml white wine

1 shallot, finely chopped

About 1 cup/250 ml heavy cream

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

Lemon juice to taste

 

Melt the butter with the oil in a large skillet over quite high heat. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and fry in batches until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Put all the chicken back in the pan, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and keep warm.

 

Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up the good bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the shallot, and boil until the wine has reduced with the cooking juices to make a thickish sauce, about 5 minutes. Add the cream and half the tarragon. Boil down again to thick sauce consistency, 3 to 5 minutes.

 

Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Squeeze in lemon juice to taste. Put the chicken pieces back in and turn to coat, then transfer to a platter, scraping the sauce over the chicken. Scatter over the remaining tarragon, and serve.

 

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In her book, Laura says, that "this is certainly a bistro dish in it's simple execution and appearance, but somehow tarragon, with it's refreshing anise scent, raises the whole thing to a higher level". This is certainly true and since I do grow tarragon in my herb garden and I dearly love this herb it was a perfect dish for me. I did use only 1 whole chicken breast, halved which was perfect for my husband and myself but did make the same amount of sauce. I chose to serve it over a bed of fettuccine and the sauce was amazing. The addition of the lemon juice gave it an added freshness along with the fresh sprinkling of tarragon.

 

 

I used this Le Crueset which has a tight fitting cover and this is a perfect size that I use often. You gotta love Le Crueset, I don't know what I ever did without them.

 

 

 

 

 



This is a recipe that I will make over and over again, a REAL keeper that was absolutely delicious and the sauce was heavenly. If you try this dish you will not be disappointed and I pared it with a simple garden salad.

French food does not have to be difficult or time consuming. It's a Good Thing. It's Friday and once again I am sharing this recipe at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday, a weekly recipe exchange. There are some excellent recipes shared and you can access them by clicking HERE.