Thursday, April 7, 2011

Of winter hats and white wine chicken


Now that the weather is finally cooling down, our thoughts turn to winter-weight peacoats (maybe in teal?), patterned tights and maybe a leopard-print cloche hat, like Tuppence from Agatha Christie’s books might wear. Okay, that’s just my thoughts. I also can’t stop thinking about a gorgeous Fiorelli handbag (silver chain, fake fur insert, fierce).

Long slow cooking on Saturday afternoons is also a feature. Like this dish I made last weekend. This is a fairly tradition treatment of chicken that yields a thickened, creamy, thyme-scented sauce. The smell that permeates the kitchen while this is cooking is pretty amazing, too.

Chicken braised with wine, cream and thyme
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 large chicken marylands, bone attached
1 tbls p olive oil
1 carrot, cut into 4cm lengths, quartered
5 eschalots, halved and peeled
½ small bunch thyme
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ cup white wine
½ cup cream
1 tblsp plain flour
10g unsalted butter, softened

Method
1. Wash the chicken, then pat dry with paper towel. Place a large deep frypan over medium heat. Add olive oil and fry the chicken, skin-side down, for 3-4 minutes until skin is golden brown. Turn and continue to fry for 2 minutes until cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan and drain on paper towel.
2. Carefully pour off any excess fat and wipe frypan clean with paper towel. Return chicken to the pan with carrot, eschalot, thyme, garlic and wine. Place over high heat and bring the wine to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and braise for 30 minutes. Alternatively, the chicken can be placed in a roasting pan, covered with foil and braised in a 180 C oven.
3. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and add cream, then season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is almost falling from the bone. Remove the chicken and vegetables with a slotted spoon to a dish and keep warm.
4. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Combine the flour and butter in a small bowl to form a paste, then whisk into sauce. Simmer for 1-2 minutes to cook out the flour and thicken the sauce.
5. Plate up the chicken and vegetables and serve with the sauce.

Recipe adapted from delicious (April 2011)
Partially prepared vegetables, with corn-fed chicken marylands

The chicken is first browned to crisp up the skin, then the veges, thyme, wine and cream are added.
 
The butter stirred into the sauce silkens it beautifully. The chicken is also wonderfully moist after its simmer in the frypan.

Serve chicken with the sauce poured over.
Cloche hat and teal peacoat are optional. 

20 comments:

  1. So I guess maybe it IS a good thing that it's still cold here? So I still have an excuse to make this? Yes, I think so.

    And I support the patterned tights. Love those things.

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  2. Simple, elegant and delicious, cannot ask for more. Love it!

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  3. I need a new winter coat and a teal pea-coat sounds pretty good! I've been reading through your back posts and I love how Tabitha Cat makes an apperance - she's very lovely!

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  4. delicious and i am so now getting into the mood for comfort warmer dishes! dayle

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  5. Yum! It looks SO juicy :)
    I need to diet this winter so I am not in a mad rush during summer. Its so hard when all you feel like is naughty confirm food haha.

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  6. such a quick and easy cooking. I like these kind of no fuss cooking :) the clicks are making me droool over the pics !

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  7. You crack me up, you truly do. Really look forward to eating rustic food like this again

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  8. i have a red pea coat with a maching beret, i hope that will do!

    this dish i the perfect winter warmer!

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  9. Thyme has to be one of the prettiest herbs! I love the simplicity of this dish, and I really must cook more with eschalots!

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  10. This looks so comforting for a cold night in! I love the thyme based sauce :) The photos are just stunning!

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  11. I think I'm slightly in denial about Winter coming. Which is surely the quickest way to catch a cold!

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  12. I love thyme :-) and chicken with white wine and thyme are simply great together.

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  13. simple recipe but so good. I need a new winter coat as well

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  14. I love cooking cuts of chicken - drumsticks, thighs, Marylands, wings - partly for the bone-in skin-on flavour, but also because they're so easy to serve.

    Although you almost had me totally distracted with thoughts of winter fashion to concentrate on the chicken!

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  15. fantastic recipe with gorgeous looking photos! salivating even just looking at the photos. good one for winter time!

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  16. such a lovely meal for today.. so cold ><

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  17. I think I need you to come over and be my stylist. It's been such a long summer that now that we've actually got a little cooler weather I'm realising I need new clothes and I can't quite remember how to wear anything other than shorts and a singlet.

    Perhaps I can just walk through the streets carrying this dish, that would surely distract people from my lame appearance?

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  18. i would be soo content to have something like this for dinner on a winter-ish night! hmmm. ur dishes always look like it came straight out of a posh restaurant!

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  19. What's the problem if it's not winter? I would ditch the cream and add more white wine..into my wine glass as well :)

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