Cooking does not rate as one of LadyNicci’s talents. The husband will confirm this. For the duration of our relationship it’s been a bit of a running joke about how crap my cookery skills are. Up till the babóg arrived, I actively avoided the kitchen. I’d have cleaned the house five times over rather than cook a meal.
Then, one day, a few weeks into the baby’s life, I found myself standing over the stove, stirring a pot and realising that I suddenly felt a lot calmer. The little break from the feeding, holding and nursing was the peaceful highlight of the day.
So, I started researching a few dishes to make and during my maternity leave I racked up an impressive array of random food offerings. Most were good, some were not, but I got full marks from himself for effort.
In the first of a series called ‘Can’t Cook, Will Cook’, here is my recipe for Chicken in Tarragon Sauce. I was first introduced to the herb tarragon by @supasambo. It has a lovely almost liquorice taste, but it goes great with cream.
The best thing about this recipe is the time it takes to prepare. Between turning the oven on and putting the dish into the oven should take approximately four minutes.
The below recipe may or may not be robbed from a very famous chef called Nigella Lawson. But I was only half listening to her when she was on the tellybox (she distracts me too much; accent, hair, boobs) so it’s my own version of her no doubt much superior version.
Ingredients (serves 2-3)
- Three chicken breasts or six mini fillets
- Two large potatoes, sliced into thin slices (skin on)
- Fresh cream, enough to cover your dish
- Splash of white wine (optional)
- One chopped onion
- Three dessert spoons of dried tarragon herb
- Salt and ground black pepper
- Portion of white rice per person
Method
- Lay chicken breasts in large oven dish
- Lay chopped potatoes around the chicken, try not to cover chicken if possible
- Throw chopped onion on top of chicken
- Season chicken and potatoes with black pepper and salt
- Pour cream over chicken and potatoes, ensuring all is well covered
- Add tarragon to dish and stir through
- Place in oven at 180 degrees for 50 minutes.
- Halfway through stir through sauce and test for seasoning. Add more salt, pepper, and tarragon to taste
- Serve with white rice
Wonder if Nigella Lawson’s dinner plates have four chips in the delph like mine have. Posh or wha?
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