Chicken in Cream

La Tuilerie Website

Back on to one of my favourite subjects – food. I love trying out all regional dishes. We are just on the edge of the country’s biggest chicken farming area, the Bresse, so chicken is one of the local specialities. The Bresse chicken is the first animal/meat to be awarded its own AOC (in 1957) which means that the farming of these birds is strictly regulated and they can only be reared in the Bresse itself. During the bird flu scare a couple of years ago, all the chickens in the country had to be kept indoors to prevent migrating birds contaminating the human food chain. This caused enormous problems for the Bresse. Part of the AOC rules for Bresse chickens is that they spend a large proportion of their time outside and there are at least 10 m^2 available for each bird. These rules had to be modified temporarily whilst the outdoor ban was on and that caused an uproar around here. This chicken is said to be the finest in the world and commands a suitably high price.

This recipe is chicken in cream. It is very filling and fattening, but very nice. I don’t make this dish with Bresse chicken although maybe I should try it!

Bon appétit!

Click for my recipe for Boeuf Bourgingnon

1 chicken portioned or 2kg of chicken bits
1 onion (chopped)
100g button mushrooms (sliced thinly)
4 whole cloves of garlic
1 litre cream
100g butter
2/3 bottle of white wine (dry)
1 bay leaf
1 bunch of thyme
seasoning
Salt and pepper the chicken pieces, fry in the butter on a medium heat until light brown. Add the onions, mushroom, garlic and herbs and cook for a further 5 - 10 mins. Add the whilte wine, stir to release any residues from the bottom of the pan, reduce to half, then add the cream, cover and simmer for 30 mins. I fish the garlic cloves and herbs out, put the chicken surrounded by the onion and mushroom directly on the plates, then quickly "whizz" the sauce (check for seasoning) then pour over the chicken to serve.