Yesterday I woke up to find a half full bottle of champagne in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure we’ve never had left over champagne before, but New Year’s Eve was a busy day and we all just went to bed after the Music Note sort of dropped. That morning we left the mountains very early and drove home in time to watch a spectacularly bad football game, meet friends at the The Bluebird Cafe for a hilarious show, and enjoy a delicious late New Year’s Eve Supper.
New Year’s Day involved a final Christmas un-decorating, lots more football (I live in a house of men), and unfortunately, no trip to the grocery store. Since we’d had a refrigerator clean-out before we went out of town, it was time to make do with what was here, embracing the idea that no champagne was going to waste in this house. Champagne Chicken was definitely the way to go. I had chicken breasts in the freezer and there is always cream for coffee so we were all set.
I first had Chicken in a Champagne Sauce about a million years ago at a dinner party that seemed the height of sophistication. It had never have occurred to me to cook with champagne – my, how decadent. The recipe is sort of vague depending on how much champagne you’re willing to dedicate to chicken. The dish is versatile and can be served with rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, or even on toast. I like it with a spinach salad, but in my refrigerator’s reduced circumstances that wasn’thappening. It was kind of neat to use the tarragon from our garden that I dried last fall. Next year I’m going to do a much better job of that and have tarragon to share with anyone who wants it. It smells fantastic and tastes so much better than the grocery store stuff.
Richard is going back to school today and is completely disappointed that there are no leftovers. It’s that good. So make a New Year’s resolution to uncork a bottle of champagne, drink half of it, and cook some delicious chicken! That’s a resolution that you can easily keep.
If I share fewer recipes in January 2012 it’s because I’m finishing Richard’s cookbook, You’re Grown – Now You Can Cook! That involves re-testing recipes and a final rewrite. These recipes are our favorites so I hope it’s worth it.
Ingredients
1 pkg chicken breasts, usually 3 to pkg about 1½ lbs.
2 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper for sprinkling chicken breasts
¼ c cognac
1 Tbsp flour
2 tsp dried tarragon
1½ c champagne, divided
1/2 c cream
Directions
Melt butter in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken breasts. Add to pan and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan. Pour cognac in the pan, warm it, and flame it with a match. When flames subside, whisk in flour and tarragon, and cook for about a minute. Stir in 1 cup of champagne. Return chicken breasts to pan, cover and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes, turning once. Remove chicken to a serving platter. Add cream and remaining champagne to pan and, over medium high heat, cook to thicken sauce. Pour over chicken and serve.
