WorshipJunky - Recipes
Friday, August 26, 2005
Tarragon Roasted Chicken
I made this a little over a week ago Tuesday. Tina wanted baked chicken, and that was just to plain for me - seeing as I go off early and had the time to cook. So I threw this together - using techniques that are common for me. Since then a few people asked for the recipe; so I'm posting it. Although I don't have exact measurements! The following are guesses... I'll try to pay attention and update the next time I make this. I'm walking through it a bit more than normal, because I'm not sure of the experience level of the person cooking.
Should take about an hour from start to finish.
This is going to be a baked chicken in the oven, with "roast" type veggies and a white tarragon cream sauce.
4 Chicken breasts - WITH skin. They can be boneless - or with the bones. Up to you.
4 Carrots
4 Celery stalks
1 Large White Onion
8 Mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 Cup Chicken Stock
1 Stick Butter
1/4 C white wine (optional)
1/4 C flour
1 pint 1/2 and 1/2
Tarragon - fresh is best, but if not a tablespoon or so (we'll figure it out below)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
I did not prep any of this... I just started making it and it came out of the oven about an hour later. You can prep some of this - but the following will be explained in a "make as you go" manner.
Get the chicken going
Turn on the broiler.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. "Lift up the skin" - reach your hand under the skin and break it loose (so it is like a pocket) but still attached on most sides.
Get 4 thin slices of butter and cut them in 1/2.
Slice 2 cloves of garlic
Slide two of the pieces of butter and about 1/4 of the garlic under the skin. Add in about 1/4 tsp of dried tarragon or a "sprig" of fresh... probably 3 leaves or so.
Put this on a cookie sheet covered in tinfoil (a pan that is good size but has an edge).
Mist with some olive oil (if you have a mister) or just brush some on.
Slide under the broiler for a few minutes until the skin gets golden.
Carrots
We aren't big carrot fans - unless they are a little sweet. If you are cool with straight carrots, think this would be too sweet, or just don't feel like messing with it, you can skip the cooking part that follows
Put about... a Tablespoon of butter in a skillet and turn it on fairly high - the butter should melt while you are doing the next step, but not start browning.
Peel carrots and cut them in 1/4s. Toss in melted butter and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of sugar and toss (shake the skillet back and forth) to coat the carrots with sugary butter. Now just let cook while you are preping the rest of the veggies. They are nice if they get sort of golden brown... just don't burn them.
Mushrooms
I don't like mushrooms that are just roasted, they dry out too much. But I love mushrooms. So... sautee them first!
Clean the mushrooms
Put about 1/4 stick of butter in a sauce pan (you'll use it later for the sauce). On medium high.
Add the mushrooms and start sauteeing them.
Add some seasoned salt (or plain salt) and pepper. Add a dash of the white wine.
Let them sautee for a few minutes.
If you haven't already done so - check the chicken? If it is getting brown, take it out and set aside. Also check the carrots - shake them a bit - they probably aren't done yet.
Other veggies
Clean and prep the other veggies.
Celery - cut each stalk in 3 or 4 pieces
Cut the onion in wedges.
Get ready to roast
By now the chicken should be brown enough, and the carrots should be done. Everything is coming together. If you haven't already done so, get the chicken out.
The chicken should be in a pan large enough to fit the chicken and the veggies. I use a restauraunt "1/2 bake pan". As I said earlier, I think a cookie sheet will work. A 9 1/2 x 13 is deep enough, but maybe not enough space. But if that's all you've got... should be fine.
The chicken should not be touching. Add in all the veggies, just spreading them around. Make sure they aren't too overlapped (so they all get brown) and around the chicken (so it picks up some flavor). This should be onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Just remove the carrots and mushrooms from their pans with a slotted spoon. You'll want to save the mushroom "sauce".
Mist with some more olive oil (optional - but it should give them nice color, some flavor, and keep them from drying out too much) and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and pepper.
Throw this back in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can pull it out and stick a thick part of the brest with a knife. If the juice comes out clear it should be done...
Sauce
Now you've gotten everything in the oven and your prep area is probably a mess - 'cuz you were throwing carrots into a pan, gettting mushrooms going, and all the time not trying to burn your chicken. But is all in the oven now and you've got 30 minutes till its done. So... pour yourself a glass of that white wine you've already opened and clean up. Once you are done with that, start the sauce.
Add in the rest of the butter (should be around 1/2 a stick or so) to the mushroom "sauce" in the sauce pan. If you don't like mushrooms and skipped that step - thats ok. The mushroom sauce just adds a little flavor, because it already has the mushroom bits, salt & pepper and wine in it. Good place to start. If not, just melt the remaining butter.
Once its melted, you are going to make a rue. (I've got a link on another recpie to that - if you need to know what that is). Basically you'll get the butter melted, then add in 1/4 cup of flour and whisk it pretty good. Let it cook for a few minutes. You want it smooth and you want it cooked some so that it cooks some of the "flour" taste out of it. So it doesn't just take like buttery flour! You'll cook this for a few minutes, stiring the entire time, and then start adding in the 1/2 and 1/2. Do this slowly If you add it all in at once, you'll probably end up with 1/2 and 1/2 with chunks of floury butter floating in it. You want it smooth. So add a little, whisk it, add some more, whisk it, etc. When you first add the liquid it will get pretty thick. You want to add/stir until it is a thick paste. You can then add in a 1/4 white wine (or so... - maybe less) and whisk that. At this point it is probably still too thick (it will thicken even more as it cooks) so you can add a little chick broth. The wine and chicken broth flavor it, the 1/2 and 1/2 gives it richness. (You can actually skip the 1/2 and 1/2 and use more chicken broth if you want).
Add in some white pepper... 1/2 teaspoon(?),
some normal pepper ... 1/2 teaspoon(?)
some seasoned salt or kosher salt (to taste - it will already be somewhat salty)
and... some tarragon. Probably a 1/2 teaspoon to a teaspoon of dry, or a few sprigs of leaves chopped up.
The sauce will develope the flavor (and thickness) as it cooks. The above should have taken about 5 minutes - so you probably have about 15 minutes (depending on how long it took you to clean up) left. Turn the sauce down about as low as you can get it, and about every 5 minutes stir it and taste it. If it doesn't have much tarragon flavor and you want a little more - and more. Not too much, but adjust seasoning after its cooked for a bit.
When there is a few minutes left, test if the sauce is hot and not too thick. If necessary turn up the heat a little and add a little more chicken broth. At the end it should be a nice creamy sauce.
Plate It!
Family style or individual? Can serve family style on a platter, but I'll assume indivdual.
Take chicken out of the oven. Slice the chicken off of the bone and arrange on a plate. Arrange about 1/4 of each veggie around it. Then pour some sauce over the chicken. Just depends on how creamy you like things. I pretty much covered mine. Taking it off the bone makes it easy to cut/eat. Leaving the crisp skin on gives it some nice contrast (to the sauce) and also keeps the tarragon and garlic moist and in contact with the chicken.
That's it! You could do the same thing with a platter. Arrange the chicken in the middle, surround it with the veggies, and cover it with sauce. Finish it by garnishing with a few tarragon sprigs and put any remaining sauce in a gravy boat, for those that like extra.
Enjoy - and if someone reads this, drop me a comment on how it turned out. Or if something isn't clear - just let me know and I'll update. (Man... I'm getting hungry. :) )
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