Poulet a la fermiere or Gratineed Chicken in Cream Sauce

I decided to take pity on folks in the Blogosphere and move past the last Daring Baker’s Challenge I had posted.  At some point, I’m sure the calories in that Bostini would begin to ooze through the screen and into my unsuspecting rear end.  Believe it or not, I only had one piece.  Truly.  Okay, I did eat a bowl of the custard as well, but that’s all.  *sigh*  How sad is that?  Until next month…or sooner if I lose my will power.  We’ll see.

So moving right along, it’s back to the savory dishes.  And this one is great.  I’ve been doing some searches for recipes with ingredients I have on hand.  Quite an original concept, don’t you think?  *erm…not exactly…*  My refrigerator and pantry are usually stuffed a la “you ARE your refrigerator” and quite scary looking, so it isn’t difficult to come up with a recipe quickly, and with a few changes, it’s dinner.

“Gratineed Chicken in Cream Sauce” was originally a Gourmet magazine recipe published in March of 2001, and is now available at Epicurious.  It is housed safely in my recipe box there which comes in very handy after I’ve been surfing for a recipe and find yummy sounding others I want to tuck away for later.

Here’s my rendition of Poulet a la Fermiere or Gratineed Chicken in Cream Sauce.

Poulet a la Fermiere Recipe

(Gratineed Chicken in Cream Sauce)

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
1 T olive oil
6 flat leafed parsley sprigs, 2 fresh thyme sprigs, & 1 bay leaf tied together into a bouquet garni

6 small carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
A few snap peas
A few baby zucchini split in half lengthwise
1 lg. shallot sliced
1/2 c. dry white wine
1/3 c. beef broth (sorry, it’s all I had…)
12 small red skinned potatoes, peelings on and quartered
2/3 c. sour cream
1 c. coarsely grated Dutch goat’s cheese

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan, and brown chicken on all sides, adding salt and pepper during the process.  When brown, remove chicken and set aside.
2. Place carrots and herbs in the same pan, stirring a bit to coat with the browned bits in the pan.
3. Add the wine over high heat to deglaze the pan, scraping the bottom as you stir.
4. Reduce the liquid to half — about 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Add broth and return chicken to the pan with the rest of the veggies.
6. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, and potatoes are tender.  While simmering, preheat broiler.
7. Discard bouquet garni and stir in sour cream, turning contents of the pan to coat.
8. Sprinkle on goat’s cheese and broil close to the heat until warm and beginning to melt, about 2 to 3 minutes.
9. Sprinkle on some chopped parsley and enjoy.

Recipe Notes:

• Make sure you cook this in a pan that can serve both on the stove top and then under the broiler.
• The vegetables all retained their own distinctive flavor, which was very good.  The carrots got a bit too soft for our liking, but not so much that we didn’t enjoy the dish.  It was actually very good.
• The Dutch goat’s cheese was purchased at Trader Joe’s and has the consistency of mozzarella, but with much more flavor.
• The original recipe calls for chicken pieces with skin, and although I do know that all that crunchy browned skin can add terrific flavor to a dish, it also adds quite a bit of fat that has to be  spooned off before serving.
• I purchased the small carrots, peas, and zucchini packaged together and the flavors worked out quite nicely.
• A quick dish that was a pleasant surprise for the little time spent on it.

Let me know how it goes if you give it a try!

Tagged as: gratin