I don't think I had ever consciously eaten tarragon before, so I was quite keen to find out what it tasted like. But first I had to assemble the other main ingredients: chicken breast, onion, white wine and chicken stock.
You begin by cooking onion and garlic in a pan. When the onion is cooked through, you stir through a small amount of flour, then add the wine and stock. When this mixture has been brought to the boil, add tarragon (fresh or dried - I used dried) and the chicken breasts. Then, just stick a lid on it and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
I was surprised to find that the chicken had cooked through in a mere 15 minutes. I'd been expecting to increase the cooking time by another 10 minutes at least. I didn't need to, however - I just set the chicken aside while I finished off the sauce, adding cream and egg yolk (since I was making a half-recipe, I had to try to scoop half a yolk into the pan) along with some seasoning. Chicken on the plate; sauce on the chicken; add veges: dinner's ready!
It turns out that tarragon is not a completely unfamiliar flavour - I've definitely had it before, just not in anything I've cooked. But it tastes good: tarragon chicken is savoury, creamy and really quite a nice meal. I personally would prefer to cook the chicken in smaller, more manageable pieces: a whole breast is quite a lot for one person to get through, and with such a large piece, you're more conscious of the slightly dry texture of the chicken breast.
When you see a recipe with ingredients like cream and wine, you might be tempted to think "nah, that's a bit flash for me". But it's really quite easy to make, and it's a tasty meal. If you've got a little cream and/or wine that needs using, why not give it a try?
Looks good! I like simple but good dishes like that. I think I'll give it a go when we FINALLY get our oven delivered.
ReplyDeleteHey, think how many things you can make when you have a proper oven, instead of a crazy Japanese convection oven thing. Pavlova anyone?
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