Tarragon chicken

A quick, but incredibly luxurious tasting dish, perfectly suited for giving the boss dinner, or impressing the in-laws.

Serves four

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2oz/50g butter
• 1/2 pint/250ml chicken stock fresh or made with powder, not cubes
• 1/4 pint/125ml cream
• 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
• 2 teaspoons fresh (or 1 teaspoon dried) tarragon
• 1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard

Method

1. Pan-fry chicken in butter until browned, turning once (about 7 minutes).
2. Dissolve mustard in hot chicken stock.
3. Add vinegar and tarragon to stock, top up with cream.
4. Add sauce to chicken pan and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and tender, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
5. Serve with boiled new potatoes and vegetables: asparagus, sugar snap peas, mangetout, fresh green beans or baby corn are all ideal.

This sauce is a little runny, and can be thickened with a roux or a paste of cornflour (cornstarch) and water, if you wish, but that reduces the piquancy

In the unlikely event of you having any left-over sauce, use it in scrambled eggs the following day, it gives them a lovely zing.

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With all due respect to the author of the recipe below, these are entirely different dishes - though I have since cooked his and can testify it is quite as divine as my own.

Welcome to intermediate-to-pro cooking. If you just want to refuel your carbohydrates, go here. On the other hand, if you're looking for a gustatory experience, stick with me. By the way, I have no intentions to offend the author of chicken in tarragon sauce, but here's how to do this properly:

Ingredients

• 1 chicken
• 4 tomatoes
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• salt, sugar, pepper
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 shallots, diced
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 2 stalks of tarragon
• 2 bay leaves
• 25ml tarragon vinegar
• 100ml white wine
• 100ml chicken broth
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 250ml cream
• 2 tbsp tarragon, chopped
• 200gr field mushrooms
• lemon juice

Scald tomatoes, peel and scoop out seeds.
Chop and simmer with 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and sugar.

Cut chicken into 8 pieces, season and sauté in butter and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Add onion, shallots, garlic cloves (whole), tarragon stalks and bay leaves.
Steam for 20 minutes at 375°F/190°C, adding the tarragon vinegar in small amounts.
Skim grease, add olive oil, remove the chicken and keep it warm.
Add chicken broth and white wine. Mix Dijon mustard and tomato puree, add this too and reduce to half its volume.
Blend!
Now add the tomatoes and cream, put the chicken back and cook for another 15 minutes.
Finally, add chopped tarragon.
Slice the mushrooms, quickly fry them in olive oil, salt and sprinkle with lemon juice. Add those as well.

You should probably make some basmati, too.

The secret to the utter deliciousness is that the tarragon vinegar evaporates and scents the chicken. Cook this for the woman of your dreams and there's a significant chance that she will be all over you¹. I take no responsibility for any quality time that potentially ensues.

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¹Supposedly works for boys, too.