You Will Want to Make this Chicken Dish all Year Round

Jacques Pepin's Poulet a la Crème

I love Jacques Pepin. The man is a culinary legend but also somehow makes French food just so damn accessible. When I watched him cook this dish, it kind of went against everything that I knew about making dishes like this. I would remove the chicken before adding the shallots and then add the flour to make a roux before adding in the liquid. Not Jacques. He basically threw it all into a pot and just said be done with it. I love this level of unseriousness. Cooking can often get caught up in technique and French cooking in particular is often taken very seriously. This recipe goes against all of that. The cooking method is incredibly rustic, but the end result is something that I could eat every single week and be very happy. So thank you Jacques Pepin for showing us that French food doesn’t have to be complicated.

This serves 4 people

Ingredients:

4 medium to large bone in skin on chicken thighs

2 medium shallots or 1 yellow onion - finely diced

1.5 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon Maldon salt for the chicken thighs

1/2 teaspoon of Maldon salt for the sauce

1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper for the sauce

1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper for the thighs

4 tablespoons of butter

1/3 cup of white wine - I used Chardonnay

2 cups of chicken stock - I use unseasoned homemade

1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

1-2 tablespoons of chopped tarragon * I love tarragon so I used 2

To Make:

Take out the chicken thighs 30 minutes before cooking and season them with salt and pepper. Let them sit between paper towels to soak up the moisture that comes out. Now chop the shallots. I do a medium to fine dice on them but again this is very rustic so do what you like.

Preheat a lidded pan, I use one that is 3’’ deep and add in the butter. Once the butter has stopped foaming, add in the chicken skin side down. Cook these over medium heat so that the butter doesn’t burn. Cook them around 3 minutes per side. Now this is where things get interesting. In my normal world, I would be taking out the chicken and cooking the shallots and then making a roux with flour before slowly adding the liquid. Jacques did none of these classic techniques. He simply throws the shallots in on top of the chicken and then using tongs moves it all around until the shallots fall off the chicken and on to the bottom of the pan. I was somewhat shocked but I will follow this man anywhere so I did what he did. After cooking the shallots for no more than a minute, you add the flour directly into the pan. Again using your tongs, move it all around so it gets mixed in. Now add in the wine and the chicken stock, give it a quick mix and cover.

Cook for 20-25 minutes depending on how big the chicken thighs are. By this time, the chicken is cooked and you can remove it. Take a wood spoon and scrape up any last remaining bits on the bottom and add the heavy cream. Let that reduce and thicken for a minute or 2 and finish with the tarragon.

This is RUSTIC cooking and had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would question it. But it worked. It worked very very well. This dish was flavorful and light, even with the heavy cream. The sauce was so delicious I took a spoon to it and just started eating it like soup. This is a perfect weeknight meal for when you want something delicious but don’t feel like busting out the knife skills and technique. It’s home cooking at its finest.

I would serve this with crispy salty French fries or creamy mash or even small crunchy roast potatoes. Throw a big baguette on to the table and mop up the extra sauce with your bread.

Enjoy!

xx Corre