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Make Ahead

Elegant Easy Chicken

by:
October 12, 2009
3.8
4 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I adapted this from an old "Colorado Cache" cookbook, changing the contents and proportions somewhat. It is a very elegant recipe that tastes & looks much more complicated than it is! —kittychi99

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Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons Salted Butter
  • 4 Chicken Breasts, split, skinned, boned & flattened
  • 2 tablespoons Flour
  • 3/4 cup Chicken Broth
  • 1/4 cup Champagne or White Wine
  • 1/2 cup Cream (Half & Half)
  • 2 tablespoons Champagne Mustard
  • 24 Grape Tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 tablespoon Fresh Minced Tarragon
  • 1/2 tablespoon Fresh Rosemary
  • 4 to 8 fresh Rosemary Sprigs for garnish
Directions
  1. Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken breasts and cook until done & lightly browned on both sides. Remove Chicken to a warm, covered serving platter.
  2. Stir flour into the pan drippings with a whisk. While whisking, gradually add chicken broth, wine and light cream. Stir and cook until the sauce thickens & bubbles. Stir in the mustard.
  3. Turn heat to low, return the chicken to the skillet, add taragon and rosemary, cover & heat for about 10 minutes, making sure the sauce does not get too thick. (If it does, add more wine or chicken broth).
  4. Garnish with tomatoes and some fresh rosemary sprigs.
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8 Reviews

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Anna May 16, 2016
krikri : chicken breasts are usually sold 'split' in supermarkets, these days usually skinless too, remove bone by using a boning knife and going carefully along bone (or buy skinless boneless), flatten with a wooden hammer or rolling pin between plastic wrap. Hope it helps.
krikri May 17, 2016
Ok, I didn't realise 'split chicken breasts' was a thing! After a quick google search and your explanation, I think I get it. Check me on this: if you need 4 split chicken breasts, this will come from 4 chickens, right? Because if the bone is attached to this one, then the other breast (half, I guess) is sold as boneless?
Anna May 17, 2016
4 split chicken breasts would be from 2 chickens - one from one side (Left), the other from other side (Right) = 2 chickens. Buy packaged at Supermarket or ask a butcher. I have a Butcher at Sprouts and at Safeway who help me. Hope you have one near.
krikri May 18, 2016
Ok, so the bone is in the middle between the 2 breasts. I live in Portugal so don't have those shops but I can check the butcher or the supermarket. Funny, I don't remember ever seeing the term when I was cooking in the US over 20 years ago!
krikri April 13, 2015
This was scrummy!
I only didn't understand what "split" meant in the instruction: "Chicken breasts, split, skinned, boned & flattened." I had nearly finished slicing them horizontally, as in butterflying - but following through - before feeling sure that was not what she meant. So I didn't bother to flatten them as they were flat enough already. If anyone knows what I was supposed to do, tell me so I'll be ready next time!
Thanks for the recipe!
Food-G September 7, 2014
Made this last night for a weeknight anniversary dinner and it was delish and perfect for a low maintenance special occasion meal. I skipped pounding the breasts and ended up having to finish them in the oven since the butter and pan were getting pretty dark. Also used Grey Poupon which worked fine. I ended up using a whole cup of chicken stock since the sauce was quite thick. The grape tomatoes add such a nice hit of juicy freshness to balance the rich sauce and complement the licorice hit of tarragon. Flavors were fantastic. Served with plain farro, blanched haricot verts, and toasted sliced almonds. Easy! There was plenty of sauce to go around. YUM. Thanks for the recipe!
Valerie T. September 3, 2014
This chicken and sauce are delicious. I couldn't find champagne mustard, so I just used Grey Poupon. Don't skip the step of splitting and flattening the chicken, like I did, because the butter will start to burn before the chicken is even closed to finished. I ended up having to cut the chicken into cubes to get it to cook, which in the end was fine and would be perfect for pasta. There's no salt (other than the salted butter) or pepper in the recipe, but I added both - it was salty at that point, which I love, but might have been a little heavy handed with it. The rosemary and thyme are perfect for this. Yum, yum, yum!
laurajg March 13, 2013
I love this recipe - I've made it several times, and it's a great weeknight dinner.