Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

CHICKEN CHASSEUR

Vive le France! Mention was made in my last week’s column about the French having claim to the ‘British’ pork pie. I am not sure whether that was a catalyst or not, but emails were received for the recipe for the French classical dish of Chicken Chasseur or something similar. It appears many people have had this wonderful dish when out dining and want to know how to replicate it at home.

Well it is very easy and the ingredients should not be difficult to obtain no matter where you are. As for any recipe the higher quality the ingredients, the better the final dish will be. It is the age old argument of authenticity versus creativity, if you want authencity follow this recipe exactly (including the ingredients) but if not, try using a similar ingredient to create a similar dish. Of course it won’t be the classical ‘chicken Chasseur’, but something close to it.

On that line of thought, it should be fairly obvious that the name of this dish is derived from the fact that Chasseur wine is used; which is a white wine. I mention this as one email asking for this recipe asked for the "French chicken dish with a red wine sauce, chicken Chasseur, that I recently had in a local restaurant". One might get away by using another white wine and calling it chicken Chasseur but definitely not a red wine. A similar dish using red wine, is called ‘Coq au vin’ : 'coq' means chicken and 'au vin' means with wine (in this case red wine). So I am slowly learning that what is obvious to me is not so apparent to others; as was the case when I received a flood of emails asking me what suet was in suet paste. And that it what I am here on HUB-UK for . . . so ask away!

Chicken pieces are now readily available either fresh or frozen so no need to cut up a whole one, as we (professional chefs) do. Demi glace in the simplest of terms is a rich, meat sauce and you might be able to find a good quality convenience product at your local supermarket, if not use a thickened gravy . . . again the higher quality the ingredient, the higher quality finish to the dish.

I like to serve this with creamy mashed potatoes and crisply cooked vegetables or tossed side salad.

I am more than happy to share with you my personal favourites, but prefer to hear from readers as to what recipes you would like to see appear each week. So don't be shy . . . email me and let me know.

Ingredients for Chicken Chasseur

tomato concassé *	1/2	cup
chicken pieces (preferably corn fed chicken)	8	pc
butter	75	gm
demi glace	500	ml
Chasseur	200	ml
white button mushrooms	8	pc

How to make Chicken Chasseur

1. Place the demi glace on a gentle heat to bring to a simmer and turn the heat down low
2. Lightly flour the chicken pieces and in a frying pan sauté or fry them in the butter, for a couple of minutes each side to brown them. This will create and add flavour to the dish and give the chicken a nice caramelised colour
3. Remove from the pan and pat dry to remove any excess fat and place in a casserole dish large double handled saucepan
4. Add the tomato concassé and Chasseur
5. Place on a lid and over a gentle heat, simmer for five minutes to infuse the wine into the chicken
6. Remove the lid and allow to simmer until the cooking liquor has almost all evaporated; this will leave just the essential flavours of the wine
7. Pour in the warmed demi glace and with a set of tongs, gently combine everything
8. Place a lid back on return to a gentle heat
9. Simmer for approximately one hour until the chicken is cooked and tender, removing the lid occasionally to gently stir (best completed with tongs so the chicken does not break up) and skimming off any fat that rises to the surface
10. Stir through the mushrooms that have been sliced, cut into quarters or left whole

Chef's Tips for Chicken Chasseur

The consistency of the sauce should be just thick enough to coat the chicken but not so thin that it will run all over the plate.

The tomato concassé will have broken up and become part of the sauce, thickening it and impacting on the flavour wonderfully

When plating this dish up, a drizzle of crème fraiche and nice sprig of a fresh herb will really enhance the presentation

* See recipe for tomato concassé - click here

Enjoy your Chicken Chasseur and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 14 May 2001