This chicken recipe is very close to my heart. When my girlfriend and I first moved to London, we were living in Kilburn. We loved walking to West Hampstead in the weekends and we often had Sunday lunch at a Spanish family-run restaurant called El Rocio (it is not there anymore). We even brought my parents there once they came to visit. Since the first time, we very often ordered a very comforting and rustic dish: chicken breast with mash potatoes, served with a sundried tomatoes and goat cheese sauce. I can still distinctly remember the taste and the contrast of textures. We initially tried to replicate it at home with mediocre results. Fast-forward a few years: I found myself obsessed about cooking and with the skills to replicate that dish. The flavors and textures are still vivid in my memories.
Cooking the chicken
If the breasts are small and not on the thick side, you can cook them as they are. I generally always gently peel off the small chicken fillet underneath the breast and cook that on its own.
If the breasts are large and on the thick side, I suggest to butterfly them by gently running a knife through them, so to reduce the thickness by half. Do this with care and take your time, it is easy to mutilate an otherwise wonderful piece of chicken. The reason for reducing the thickness is that the breast will reach an internal temperature of 75C faster and in time to avoid overcooking of the parts that are thinner.
Cook your chicken breast like a steak! Screaming hot pan, vegetable oil (I generally use canola/rapeseed oil), half time on one side until browned and caramelized, half time on the other side. And as always, rest the chicken for at least 7/8 minutes after it is done! This will ensure juiciness.
Serving this to a crowd
This recipe can be easily served to up to 6/8 people. If you have two pans to cook the chicken breasts, that will help. Do not crowd the pans too much or the chicken will boil rather than sear.
You can sear the chicken a little in advance, and let it rest in a warm spot. Then, you can re-heat it slightly in the sauce before serving. If you care about the plating, it might be better to re-heat it at very low temperature in the oven.
The mash can be made slightly in advance and kept warm or re-heated gently in the oven. The mash is very rustic, it does not have a large amount of fat, therefore it should be able to stand a bit of re-heating without the butter splitting/separating.
The sauce can also be made in advance. It is the easiest to re-heat, so if that is made in advance you can actually keep the chicken for last and you will not have to re-heat it for long and risk ruining the temperature you worked hard to achieve.
Chicken Breast with Sundried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese Sauce
Comforting and rustic recipe, ideal for a Sunday family meal.
Ingredients
- For the chicken and sauce
- 2 Chicken Breasts (about 350g)
- 6/7 sundried tomatoes
- 300ml good quality stock (chicken, vegetable, are great) (substitutions: mushroom stock, water)
- 160ml light fat single cream (subs: heavy cream, if you want to go big)
- 50g Goat cheese (a chevre log is great, softer cheese works well too)
- 1 Shallot or half medium onion
- A couple tbps of vegetable oil for searing
- (Optional) Splash of White wine
- (Optional) Parsley or chives to garnish
- For the mash
- 600g to 750g of potatoes (of the type for mash)
- 40g butter (or to taste)
- 20g parmesan (or to taste)
- A splash of Milk (substitutions: water, cream)
- Black pepper
- (Optional) Chives or other herbs
Directions
- Step 1 Start with the prep. Peel potatoes and cut in similar-sized chunks (we do not need them small as there is time for them to cook). Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Finely dice the shallot and slice the herbs. Blitz the sundried tomatoes in a blender or food processor. The prep will take 5 to 10 minutes.
- Step 2 Drop the potatoes in the boiling water. They will take 10 to 20 minutes to cook based on thickness. They are ready when a knife goes through them with very little resistance.
- Step 3 If the chicken breasts are thick, butterfly them by cutting them in two horizontally in order to get 4 fillets. Salt them on all sides. Heat a heavy pan until very hot, then add the vegetable oil. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels and add to the pan. Sear them on one side, then flip them on the other side. Cook uncovered, flipping only once. Depending on thickness, it can take 7 to 11 minutes. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 75C and then move them on to a plate to rest.
- Step 4 Reduce heat to medium-low. Remove excess oil from the pan, if any. Add a little bit of fresh oil in the same pan and sautee the diced shallots for a couple of minutes. Add sundried tomatoes, stirring them in for about 30 seconds, to briefly toast until their aroma comes off the pan. Deglaze with a splash of white wine (if using, otherwise skip), making sure to scrap the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and the cream, and reduce gently, for about 10 to 15min. It will be ready when “at a nap”, which is until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clean streak when you run your finger through it.
- Step 5 Around the time when your sauce starts reducing, your potatoes will be ready. Drain them, then steam lightly in the dry pot for a few seconds to remove excess moisture. Mash the potatoes with a ricer and into a bowl. Start mixing the mash with a wooden spoon. Add butter and parmesan and keep mixing. Add milk/water/cream, if needed, to loosen it a bit. Be aware of the richness of the sauce, therefore use less butter than you normally would for a mash. I tend to keep it on the light side. It will certainly be a rustic mash and not a rich puree. Add black pepper and salt. Taste and balance salt. Add herbs if using. Keep warm.
- Step 6 When the sauce is almost ready, add the goat cheese and stir until melted and emulsified into the sauce. If you like to do so, add the chicken back into the sauce to warm it up.
- Step 7 Plate in the following way to maximize the texture contrast: generous amount of puree on the bottom, chicken on top, sauce on top of chicken. Top with sliced herbs if using.
Recent Comments