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Dinner Tonight: Provencal Sauteed Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic
Shallots, butter, wine, rosemary, and garlic: you can hardly get more French than that. Sometimes a good dinner is not about expanding your palate with new cuisines and exotic ingredients; sometimes the ticket is what's familiar and guaranteed to be delicious.
I knew I was in good hands with Pierre Franey when I found this recipe in his book Cooking in France, companion to his PBS television series. A Frenchman with a deep love for his home cuisine, his recipes relied on good technique and classic flavors.
What's important with this recipe is cooking the chicken skin-side down for at least ten minutes, which crisps up the skin into a mouthwatering golden brown. The smooth, rich sauce—a buttery elixir of chicken juices, mellow garlic, fragrant rosemary, and white wine—needs that crisp counterpoint. I was amazed how this recipe transformed the lowly chicken breast into great cuisine.
Dinner Tonight: Provencal Sauteed Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic
About This Recipe
| Yield: | 4 |
| Active time: | 15 |
| Total time: | 40 |
| Rated: |   |
Ingredients
- 2 pound chicken pieces, or 1 3 1/2 pound chicken cut into serving pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons minced shallots
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
Procedures
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1
Season chicken pieces on both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in heavy skillet large enough to hold pieces comfortably until butter foam has subsided. Add chicken pieces skin-side down and cook undisturbed until skin is crisp and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
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2
Turn chicken pieces over and add garlic and rosemary to skillet. Continue to cook for 10 more minutes.
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3
Remove chicken to rest and carefully remove all but a few tablespoons of fat from skillet. Add shallots and cook for 30 seconds, then add wine and chicken broth. Scrape up pan juices from surface and reduce sauce by half.
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4
Return chicken pieces to pan skin-side up and cook, covered, until chicken is cooked through. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to skillet to finish sauce. Serve chicken immediately with sauce draped around it.
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