Skin-on chicken breast cooked until deeply golden and crisp, served with browned mushrooms in a white wine, crème fraîche and fresh tarragon sauce. The sauce is made in the same pan so none of the chicken fat or caramelised flavour gets left behind.
Serves: 2
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 35-40 minutes
Ingredients
2 skin-on chicken breasts
50g butter
300–400g mixed mushrooms
1 shallot
75ml white wine
125ml chicken stock
125g crème fraîche
Small handful of fresh tarragon
Method
1. Cook the chicken
Heat the oven to 180°C fan.
Pat the chicken breasts dry, especially the skin, then season well with salt and black pepper.
Heat a little oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken breasts skin-side down and cook for 8–10 minutes, without moving them around too much, until the fat has rendered and the skin is deeply golden and crisp.
Add half of the butter for the final minute and spoon it over the flesh side of the chicken.
Flip the breasts so the skin is facing up and cook the flesh side for 1–2 minutes.
Transfer the pan straight to the oven, keeping the chicken skin-side up.
Cook for:
10–12 minutes for average-sized chicken breasts
13–16 minutes for larger or particularly thick breasts
Take the chicken breasts out of the pan and transfer them to a warm plate. Rest them uncovered for 8–10 minutes.
Do not clean the pan. Put that same pan, with the chicken fat and browned bits still in it, back on the hob and use it to make the sauce while the chicken rests.
2. Make the sauce
Place the same pan over a medium-high heat.
If there is a large amount of fat in the pan, spoon some out, leaving around 1 tablespoon behind along with all the browned bits.
Add the mushrooms and cook until properly browned. Avoid overcrowding the pan, as this will cause them to steam rather than colour. Cook them in batches if needed.
Once browned, remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.
Turn the heat down to medium-low, then add the rest of the butter and shallot. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until softened.
If using white wine, pour it into the pan and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom. Let it reduce until almost completely evaporated.
Add the chicken stock and simmer until reduced by roughly half.
Turn the heat down low and stir through the crème fraîche.
Return the mushrooms to the pan and warm everything through gently.
Chop the tarragon and add to the pan, as well as any juices released by the resting chicken.
Taste and adjust the salt and black pepper. Add a small splash of stock if the sauce becomes too thick.
3. Serve
Serve the chicken breasts whole or sliced into thick pieces.
Spoon the mushroom and tarragon sauce around or underneath the chicken, keeping it away from the skin so it stays crisp.
Serve with: