Cooking from the Markets.Com - French Recipes

Chicken Breast D'Artangnan

Blancs de Volailles D'Artagnan

Chicken breast (les blancs) - 1 pound - boneless and skinless (hormone-less would be good, too)

Butter - really good butter - French butter if you can get it - 2 Tablespoons

Olive oil - 2 Tablespoons

Shallots - 1/2 cup finely chopped

White Wine - Pouilly Fume or Sancerre - a dry, high-acid white wine with some fruit - 1 ^1/2 cups (California Sauvignon Blanc can be substituted very nicely) - lighter white wines of lesser character need not be applied to this dish. Chardonnays and other white burgundies would work in this dish. Loire whites of good quality - such as those of the Sauvion wineries - make all the difference in this dish.

Tarragon - fresh - 2 tablespoons finely chopped

Coriander Seed - finely ground - 1 teaspoon

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Brown the chicken breasts in olive oil over moderately high heat - dusted with salt, pepper and ground coriander seed - without cooking them through. Set aside on warm plate on stove.

Sautee shallots in butter until transparent.

Deglaze pan with wine - scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon.

Add tarragon and return the chicken to pan for cooking through - only long enough to cook to 175 degrees in the center of the chicken breast. Remove chicken breasts to a clean, heated platter.

Reduce the pan juices until somewhat thickened - pour over chicken and serve immediately.

-----------------Notes

Serve this with a nice pain au levain (sourdough county bread), plenty of good butter, Pommes de terre gratinee (with Mimolette cheese) and sauteed spinach.

The reduced pan juices can be thickened with a little creme fraiche (2 tablespoons) which is first mixed with some warm pan juices in a separate bowl before being added to the almost-thickened juices.