Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:
CHICKEN
CHASSEUR
Vive
le France!
Mention was made in my last week’s column about
the French having claim to the ‘British’ pork
pie. I am not sure whether that was a catalyst or not,
but emails were received for the recipe for the French
classical dish of Chicken Chasseur or something similar.
It appears many people have had this wonderful dish
when out dining and want to know how to replicate it
at home.
Well
it is very easy and the ingredients should not be difficult
to obtain no matter where you are. As for any recipe
the higher quality the ingredients, the better the final
dish will be. It is the age old argument of authenticity
versus creativity, if you want authencity follow this
recipe exactly (including the ingredients) but if not,
try using a similar ingredient to create a similar dish.
Of course it won’t be the classical ‘chicken
Chasseur’, but something close to it.
On
that line of thought, it should be fairly obvious that
the name of this dish is derived from the fact that
Chasseur wine is used; which is a white wine. I mention
this as one email asking for this recipe asked for the
"French chicken dish with a red wine sauce, chicken
Chasseur, that I recently had in a local restaurant".
One might get away by using another white wine and calling
it chicken Chasseur but definitely not a red wine. A
similar dish using red wine, is called ‘Coq au
vin’ : 'coq' means chicken and 'au vin'
means with wine (in this case red wine). So I am slowly
learning that what is obvious to me is not so apparent
to others; as was the case when I received a flood of
emails asking me what suet was in suet paste. And that
it what I am here on HUB-UK for . . . so ask away!
Chicken
pieces are now readily available either fresh or frozen
so no need to cut up a whole one, as we (professional
chefs) do. Demi glace in the simplest of terms is a
rich, meat sauce and you might be able to find a good
quality convenience product at your local supermarket,
if not use a thickened gravy . . . again the higher
quality the ingredient, the higher quality finish to
the dish.
I
like to serve this with creamy mashed potatoes and crisply
cooked vegetables or tossed side salad.
I
am more than happy to share with you my personal favourites,
but prefer to hear from readers as to what recipes you
would like to see appear each week. So don't be shy
. . . email
me and let me know.
Ingredients
for Chicken
Chasseur
|
tomato
concassé *
|
1/2
|
cup |
|
chicken
pieces
(preferably corn fed chicken)
|
8
|
pc |
|
butter
|
75
|
gm |
|
demi
glace
|
500
|
ml |
|
Chasseur
|
200
|
ml |
|
white
button mushrooms
|
8
|
pc |
How
to make Chicken
Chasseur
 Place
the demi glace on a gentle heat to bring to a simmer
and turn the heat down low- Lightly flour the chicken pieces and in a frying
pan sauté or fry them in the butter, for a couple
of minutes each side to brown them. This will create
and add flavour to the dish and give the chicken a
nice caramelised colour
- Remove from the pan and pat dry to remove any excess
fat and place in a casserole dish large double handled
saucepan
- Add the tomato concassé and Chasseur
- Place on a lid and over a gentle heat, simmer for
five minutes to infuse the wine into the chicken
- Remove the lid and allow to simmer until the cooking
liquor has almost all evaporated; this will leave
just the essential flavours of the wine
- Pour in the warmed demi glace and with a set of
tongs, gently combine everything
- Place a lid back on return to a gentle heat
- Simmer for approximately one hour until the chicken
is cooked and tender, removing the lid occasionally
to gently stir (best completed with tongs so the chicken
does not break up) and skimming off any fat that rises
to the surface
- Stir through the mushrooms that have been sliced,
cut into quarters or left whole
Chef's
Tips for Chicken
Chasseur
The
consistency of the sauce should be just thick enough
to coat the chicken but not so thin that it will run
all over the plate.
The
tomato concassé will have broken up and become
part of the sauce, thickening it and impacting on
the flavour wonderfully
When
plating this dish up, a drizzle of crème fraiche
and nice sprig of a fresh herb will really enhance
the presentation
*
See
recipe for tomato concassé - click
here
Enjoy
your Chicken
Chasseur and bon appetit . . . . .
Published
14 May 2001
|
