Chicken chasseur

A whole dish built in one pan around the sauce it makes itself. The best argument in the book for learning to deglaze.

1200 g — chicken pieces

40 g — butter

20 ml — olive oil

250 g — button mushrooms

80 g — shallot

200 ml — dry white wine

250 g — ripe tomatoes

300 ml — brown stock

6 g — tarragon

10 g — parsley

6 g — salt

Dry the chicken thoroughly and brown it skin-side down in butter and oil, without moving it, for eight minutes. Wet skin steams and never browns; that is the commonest reason the sauce ends up thin.

Take the chicken out, pour off most of the fat and fry the mushrooms hard until they squeak. Add the shallot for a minute only.

Deglaze with the wine off the heat, scraping the brown film up, and reduce by two-thirds. Add the tomato and stock, put the chicken back skin-side up and simmer uncovered for twenty-five minutes.

Lift the chicken onto a warm plate, reduce the sauce to nappe if it needs it, and finish with tarragon and parsley off the heat.