Tarragon Chicken

So, how were the brioche? Well, not as good as the others I made with the bread mix... The rolls are soft inside, but very crispily crusted! I have now been exploring more traditional recipes and noticed they involve more egg yols and sugar. I wouldn't say they were a disaster, but definitely could be improved. I probably need to find some French advice! I will keep experimenting...

Today I found John Lewis' Food Hall in Bluewater. WOW! It is very impressive. A nice calm space with beautifully presented stock. H thought she was in France. I obviously arrived at the right time too, as there seemed to be quite a few bits reduced, which tempted me to buy things I hadn't planned to. This can be frustrating when you spend more than you planned, but can also be rewarding when you are tempted by things you hadn't tried before.

So, there I was with a reduced box of Oyster Mushrooms that I had never tried before, and something beautiful caught my eye in the vegetable baskets - a bright orange Onion Squash. It was sitting alone amongst  a group of green squashes, and it's colour stood out - how could I leave it there! Into my basket it went and now it is adding something interesting to my fruit bowl. What will I do with it..?

You can see how it got it's name!

The trademark stripes spread out from the base of this Onion Squash.

We had some great service at the cheese section, and bought an interesting stout infused cheddar and a Welsh horseradish cheese called 'Harlech'. Couldn't not have that one. I may have bought it for the name, having been reminded of days in Harlech with Nan and Taid, and eating hot doughnuts! R, however, probably bought it for the taste!

After that excitement, I picked up some use-by-today fresh tarragon at John Lewis, decided to make Tarragon Chicken, and bought part boned chicken breasts to use. I haven't made this recipe for a while, but R loves it. The aniseed flavour of the tarragon is great with the chicken and is normally enhanced with the saltiness of smoked bacon or pancetta (see recipe below from January). Today, however, I forget I need bacon (having T home means it has disappeared much quicker than normal), so I substitute it with some organic closed cup mushrooms, sliced, fried and tipped into the pot along with the peas. My other substitute is sour cream instead of creme fraiche or yoghurt - again, it worked well, so any of these would be fine to use.

Tarragon Chicken

For 3 people, you will need:

3 chopped rashers of smoked bacon or a pack of pancetta cubetti.

3 chicken breasts

1 onion

1 oz butter

1 tbsp flour

75 ml white wine

250 ml hot chicken stock

3 tarragon stalks, leaves removed. Leaves can be chopped for use at the end of cooking as garnish.

Handful chopped mushrooms (optional)

Handful frozen peas

1 tbsp creme fraiche/natural yoghurt/cream

And here is my original diary entry:

Saturday 26^th January 2013

A favourite recipe tonight that I got from ‘Country Living’ magazine…

Tarragon chicken. Serves 3.

Fry 3 chopped rashers of bacon. I use back, but streaky will do, or sometimes I use a pack of pancetta cubetti. Heat the pan but don’t add oil, the fat form the bacon will be enough.

Once the transparency leaves the bacon pieces, add 3 chicken breast fillets to the pan and fry to brown each side. The bacon will begin to crisp and the juices will start to appear from the chicken.

Once browned, pop the meats onto a plate, cover and keep warm.

Melt 1 oz butter in the pan and add 1 sliced onion. On a low heat, leave the onion to cook for 10 mins, covering the pan.

After this time, add 2 tsp flour and cook for 1 min.

Add 75ml white wine gradually to the roux and begin to build a sauce mix.

Continue by adding 250 ml chicken stock and 3 tarragon stalks (remove the leaves for later).

Put the chicken and bacon into the sauce, cover and cook for 15 mins at a simmer.

After this, add a handful of frozen or fresh peas and cook for a further 5 mins.

Complete the dish with a tbsp crème fraiche stirred into the sauce – I used natural yoghurt this time, which worked well and had less calories!

Remove the tarragon stalks before serving and sprinkle with the chopped tarragon leaves.

I serve this with baby new potatoes under the chicken and a ‘moat’ of tarragon sauce in a large bowl. Pasta bowls are great, but mine have writing all over them, so are not great for presentation. Must buy some plain ones too - any excuse! ;-)

Tarragon Chicken with new potatoes

Right, now to think about those mushrooms and that squash...