If you are looking for a quick, one pot meal, that is both easy and fancy, Tarragon Chicken Fricassee is the recipe for you!
Tarragon can be a divisive ingredient. It's not super common, it has a bit of a specific flavor. But tarragon also has a little bit of cloud. It's one of those elevated herbs, the oh, I don't use that one, it's too fancy.
Fear not, I am here to tell you that tarragon is your new best friend.
First of all, if you haven't read my post on tarragon vinegar and salad dressing, you don't want to miss it. Second, let's talk about tarragon.
Tarragon is a delicious herb used in a lot of French cooking. It has a bit of an anise and sweet flavor, which may turn some people off, but really what it does is add a bit of je ne sais quoi, or umami even, to your dish. I lives in the realm of dill with celery with fennel, but it truly is its own ingredient.
I have a file of recipes on my computer that I have made over the years and really loved. This recipe is one of them. I make this all the time. The first time I made it, it was for guests. We were all blown away by how good it was!
Hood doesn't like tarragon, or so he says. Just like he says doesn't like Grey Poupon (see Tarragon Vinegar post). He says he doesn't like it, and then he loves everything that I put it in. We has Steak Diane this weekend, lots of Grey Poupon, Hood was a huge fan.
But it's not just Hood, I think there may be a good contingency of people who wouldn't claim to love tarragon. But I bet a good portion of them of have maybe never tried tarragon at all or at least haven't tried it correctly.
Growing up, my mom didn't cook with tarragon. She doesn't like, anise, fennel, or celery, so anything with those undertones are a no go for her.... Unless they are disguised...
A few years back, I was in France with my mom. There is a small restaurant on rue de Nil called Frenchie to Go, well, I guess now it is called FTG. I think I may have mentioned this before, but I would save up all my lunch tickets to come here. Here, it is a French chef recreating American foods in the best possible ways.
And the star of the show for me, was the Lobster Roll. Just hands down, the standard of what a lobster roll should be. It was something like 18 euros, almost four days of lunch tickets, and it was worth every penny
Milda, my mom, loves Lobster Rolls. They have actually become quite a thing in Hawaii lately, and let me tell you, the indulgence is real and they are getting close to my Parisian standard.
So I took Milda for a lobster roll at FTG. No surprise, she absolutely loved it. Best Lobster Roll for her to date! Well, a few years after that, I think it was Ina Garten, doing a special with the owner of FTG, Gregory Marchand, on his lobster roll, go figure. And what was the secret ingredient, celery.
In fact, if you google Gregory and Ina, you get the actual recipe and find that he uses an entire half cup of celery! So the point being, just because you may not think you love something, you really can, and might! You maybe just haven't had it prepared as you like it!
That, right there, is the entire lifeblood of MarnaMaria. Taking foods and transforming them to be something that you actually love. Milda doesn't love celery but she loves lobster bathed in celery butter. Hood doesn't love tarragon, or Grey Poupon for that matter, but he loves tarragon chicken. Your favorite food may be something that you have never tried before, and let me tell you, this Tarragon Chicken recipe just might be one of this things. Just ask Hood!
Getting back to the Tarragon chicken, this is one of the those recipes that you can make when you want to be fancy, but don't have the time, the budget, the skill, or any combination of the above. It is easy to make, a crowd pleased, and you use bone in, skin on, chicken thighs, the best value of all the chickens.
This recipe is one that I ripped out of Gourmet magazine in 2007. Does anybody remember Gourmet Magazine. It was my absolute favorite cooking magazine, I kept every issue I had neatly arranged on my bookshelf with post it's sticking out everywhere. To this day still have them and many of the recipes I use frequently. All are delicious.
📖 Recipe
Tarragon Chicken
Description
If you are looking for a quick, one pot meal, that is both easy and fancy, Tarragon Chicken is the recipe for you!
Ingredients
- 3 ½ to 4 pounds chicken pieces with skin and bone
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoons dried tarragon
- ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Pat chicken dry and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté chicken in 2 batches, skin side down first, turning over once, until browned, 10 to 12 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a plate.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet, then cook shallots, garlic, and bay leaf over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, about 2 minutes.
- Add wine and bring to a boil. Stir in cream, broth, and 1 tablespoon tarragon, then add chicken, skin side up, and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered. If necessary, boil sauce until thickened slightly.
- Stir in lemon juice, remaining ½ tablespoon tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste. Discard bay leaf; pour sauce over chicken.
Notes
Recipe from Gourmet Magazine 2007
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