All Things Chill

Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Fiddlehead Ferns and Sauce Supreme

Thanks to the fine folks whom I met yesterday at the Seattle food blogger / writer meetup (more on that later!), I had an insane desire to cook something refined using some of the produce that I bought locally around this fine city. Geeking out with like-minded people (who may or may not be geeks lol) always gets the creative juices flowing. I don’t think I’ve said it before, but I really love Seattle. WHEEEEE. Fabrication deets follow below:

Chicken Breast
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Preheat saute pan over medium-high heat. Add in canola oil and preheat for another minute. Pat chicken breasts dry and add healthy pinches of Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper to the chicken breasts. Add the “presentation side” of the chicken breasts down on the pan and let sit for 4 minutes (seriously, don’t touch!), or until you can see the edges crisp up and become golden brown. Flip breasts over, add 1 tbsp. of butter and throw the pan in the oven for another 8 minutes, or until cooked through.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Staple side dish. The potatoes were peeled and started in a pot of cold water with 5 hearty pinches of Kosher salt. Bring to a boil and bring it down to a simmer until fork-tender. While you’re waiting, throw 3 heads of garlic, minced into a pan with 1 tbsp. of butter and let it sweat over low heat until the potatoes are done. Drain the potatoes, add chicken stock (if you have any), a splash of milk or cream and add the garlic and butter. Mash to your heart’s content!

Fiddlehead Ferns
The fiddlehead ferns from Sunday’s Ballard Farmer’s Market, following the instruction I received from the people at the meetup yesterday (awesome, btw), only need a quick blanch (35 seconds) in boiling water to get them clean. Drop in an ice bath and serve simply. I liken them to a crisp and hollow green bean – super light and tasty!

Sauce Supreme
The sauce supreme requires 2oz. of unsalted butter and flour (yes, by weight). Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat and slowly whisk in the flour and cook until you start smelling roasted nuts and the color is a VERY light beige. If you think you messed up, start over, it only costs $0.20 for both ingredients!

Once your roux is sexy and thick, slowly whisk in 2 cups of good quality chicken stock (homemade makes everyone happy!) until completely combined. Set aside. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Congrats, you’ve made veloute, one of the French mother sauces! But wait, there’s more!

In another pan, add 2 tablespoons of butter and saute off 1 tablespoon shallot. Add 1 glug (lol. 1/4 cup) of white wine and reduce it until 80% has evaporated. Add the 1/2 cup of cream and heat until barely simmering. Sloooooowly add the cream to the roux / stock mixture until combined. Add in Kosher salt and black pepper (white if you’ve got it) so it tastes a bit saltier than you actually want and serve! I’ve always thought that sauces should always taste a bit stronger so that the mellow flavors in the dish can counteract them – more harmony with flavors, rather than “individual notes.”

NOW, just plate how you would like! I spooned the sauce on the bottom of the plate, added the mashed potatoes in a metal round (for shape), sliced the chicken breasts on the bias and TIGHTLY laid them next to the potatoes, added the fiddleheads on top and garnished with minced parsley for freshness and color.

Whew.

IT’S NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK LOL. As long as you keep tabs on what’s going on your stove and in your oven, you’ll be fine. If you have questions, let me know! I’m always here to eat… er… HELP.

HELP.

~Spec

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Cooking Culture, Cuisine, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.