Seasonal Recipe of the Week – Chicken breast with wild mushrooms, cocotte potatoes and tarragon, by Ollie Couillaud

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients
(Serves four)

 

For the chicken
4 free-range chicken breasts with skin on
Sunflower oil
Butter

 

For the mushroom sauce
500g wild mushrooms
Duck fat
4 shallots, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
Thyme
Tarragon
300ml white wine
1 pack unsalted butter
1 litre chicken stock

 

For the new potatoes
500g new potatoes
Duck fat
Butter
Garlic
Thyme

 

For the green beans
500g green beans
100g butter
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 clove garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper

 

Method
For the chicken
Fry the chicken breasts, skin side down, in a little sunflower oil. When golden, add a little butter and cook in the oven at 180°C for 10-15 minutes.

 

For the mushroom sauce
Clean and slice the mushrooms. Heat up a little duck fat in a saucepan, add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Fry gently until golden.

 

Add a little butter, shallots, garlic, thyme and bay leaf and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and reduce by three-quarters. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half. Whisk in the rest of the butter until nice and glossy. Finish with roughly chopped tarragon just before serving.

 

For the new potatoes
Peel the potatoes, wash and drain. Heat the duck fat in a pan and cook the potatoes until golden. Add a knob of butter, thyme and crushed garlic. Cook in the oven at 180°C for about 10-12 minutes. The inside should be soft and the skin crispy.

 

For the green beans
Cook the beans in salted boiling water for 5 minutes and refresh in iced water.

 

Heat the butter in a saucepan with garlic and nutmeg. When the butter is foaming, add the green beans, a little salt and pepper and toss quickly. Drain the excess butter on kitchen paper.

 

To serve
Make sure the chicken breast has rested for 10 minutes. Trim the knuckle a little to make it look pretty. Put a little mushroom sauce on the plate. Place the beans neatly on top and then the potatoes. Place the chicken breast on top and cover with more mushroom sauce.

 

 

Ollie Couillaud, chef-proprietor, Lawn Bistro, London

 

Recommended wine

 

An unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay will go best with this dish. It will need a wine with good acidity, not too overpowering for the delicate flavour, so select wines from cooler climates such as Chablis or a white Rioja to match the garlic and tarragon, herby taste in the dish. In terms of red, I would match the mushrooms in this dish with a full-bodied Beaujolais, such as Moulin-à-Vent or an earthy Burgundy Pinot Noir.
Simone Sylvestre is a 2009 Acorn Scholar and sales manager at London wine merchants Laytons