Receta Jacques Pépin's Chicken and Mushrooms in Cream Sauce
I
have expressed my affection for Jacques Pépin and his latest cookbook
“Heart and Soul in the Kitchen” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015). This book is filled with recipes that are
more at home at home than they are in
restaurants. One of his dishes is such a
favorite of mine that I’ve made it several times now: It’s his recipe for
Chicken in Cream Sauce. It is the best
of French country food, an amazingly satisfying dish combining heavy cream and
mushrooms and wine with fork-tender chicken.
It’s a triumph of simple cooking requiring nothing more than browning
the chicken and making the sauce all in one pan and in all of about 30 minutes.
Its genesis was in Chef Pépin’s mother’s kitchen in the town of Bourg-en-Bresse.
And if you know anything about French chickens that name should ring a bell.
Poulet de BressePoulet de Bresse is France’s most highly
prized Chicken. It actually has its own Appellation d’Origine Controlée status
meaning it can only be produced from the White Chickens of the Bresse breed and
they can only be raised in this legally defined area in Eastern France. It is of course the area Pépin grew up in. It is about 43 miles from France's capital of Gastronomy, Lyon. So Jacques Pépin knows his way around a chicken, hailing as he does from its center,
Bourg-en-Bresse.
The chicken's reputation was sealed by Jean
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the French
epicure and gastronome whose 1825 book “The Physiology of Taste” is one of the bibles of French cuisine. (Unfortunately
day.) Brillat Savarin described Poulet de Bresse as being “the Queen of
Poultry, the poultry of Kings”. Its
reputation has never diminished and even today it is said to be the best
quality table chicken in the world. And
well it should. While 90 percent of the birds remain in France, 10 percent of
them are exported. I was able to find a
British importer who sells the imported chicken for 32 British pounds (45 US dollars) a kilo. A single
bird could easily run 64 pounds (90 dollars)!
Fortunately,
you will not have to spend that for Chef Pépin’s recipe. In fact, you can’t. Due to strict import
regulations, Poulet de Bresse isn’t sold in the States. For today’s recipe, I would suggest getting the best chicken
you can find and taking it from there.
Kosher chickens are always a good bet because Koshering is essential a
brining technique which gives you a beautifully moist bird. While Chef Pépin’s
mother used a whole cut up chicken, the Chef himself relies on Chicken thighs,
which he describes as being ‘the best part of the chicken’. As a major fan of Chicken Thighs, I was only
to happy to oblige Chef Pépin.
The
cooking process is easy and the fact that it uses a single pot an added bonus. You
remove the skin from the chicken, then sauté it. The rest of the ingredients are added to the
same pot. At the end of the 25 minute
cooking time, Chef Pépin sprinkles chopped tarragon over the dish, which adds
another layer of flavor. I have done the
same thing with chives. The point here
is you have a monochromatic dish that needs some color as much as it does
flavor. The Chef used 6 thighs. I used
only 4 to give us two a piece. I think it depends on the size of the thighs themselves
which varies widely. The chef’s mother
served the dish with rice pilaf. Here is
the recipe:
Jacques
Pépin’s Poulet à la
Crème (Chicken in Cream Sauce)
Recipe: Poulet à la
Crème
Serves
4
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 chicken thighs (about 3 pounds), skin
- removed(about 2 1/2 pounds skinned)
- 8 mushrooms (about 6 ounces), washed
- and sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black
- pepper
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh tarragon,
- chives or parsley (optional)
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
Add the chicken thighs to the pan in one layer and brown over high
heat for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side.
2. Add the mushrooms to the pan and
sprinkle on the flour. Turn the chicken pieces with tongs so the flour is
dispersed evenly. Stir in the wine and water and mix well. Bring to a boil and
add the salt and pepper. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook gently for 25
minutes.
3. Add the cream, bring to a boil, and
boil, uncovered, for about 1 minute.
4. Serve sprinkled with the chopped
tarragon, chives or parsley, if desired. (You really should desire one of these.)