Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Best Sauce For Chicken... Ever... Mushroom Sauce With Tarragon

I'm having a whole new love affair with the spice Tarragon. How could I have lived for 57 years before discovering the deliciousness of this herb? It must be my mother's fault. She was the Queen of Not Using Spices. It's always good to have a place to lay the blame, right?

Anyway, I discovered this wonderful herb while preparing this sauce to be served over roasted chicken. It was truly love at first bite. I'm now driving my Mr. Snooty crazy, wanting to put Tarragon in everything. He'll survive, I assure you. But all of a sudden I've become obsessed with sauces, which is never good for a *muffin-top* like me. Still, it's difficult to break an obsession, especially when you have no desire to. To me, this sauce is quite bland without the tarragon, so let's get to it, shall we?

Ingredients For Sauce:

1 - 8 ounce container sliced fresh mushrooms (baby bella or button)

2   Tablespoons olive oil

2   Tablespoons unsalted butter

2   cloves garlic, minced

2   shallots, chopped

1   Tablespoon fresh tarragon (but dried is perfectly acceptable)

salt & pepper, to taste

1   Tablespoon sherry wine vinegar

1   Cup low sodium chicken stock

1   cup half-n-half (or sometimes I just use milk)

2   Tablespoons cornstarch (or flour) mixed in 1/3 cup cold water


Ingredients For Chicken Breasts:

4   chicken breasts

3 Tablespoons flour

1 Tablespoon tarragon, fresh chopped (but dried is just fine)

salt & pepper, to taste


Directions:

1. Heat olive oil and butter in skillet.

2. Add mushrooms and shallots. Saute for 5 minutes.

3. Add garlic and tarragon and saute for 1-2 more minutes.

4. Stir in the chicken broth and allow to simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal.

5. Cover and set aside.

6. Stir in the milk and sherry just before serving.

7. Carve your roasted chicken (which can be purchased at almost any grocery store these days).

8. Pour desired amount of sauce over chicken slices.

9. This is also an excellent sauce for fish and other types of poultry. It's also quite tasty over veggies and pasta.

4 comments:

Marilyn *Pink Martinis and Pearls* said...

You have no idea how good this looks to me right now as I drink my protein shake and grill my veggies. You are evil, but in a good way. :) I cannot wait to try this for company in a few weeks but of course I must try it before. Surely it is too good to wait!! ;) xoxo

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Wow this sounds amazing!! Rich and creamy and savory, delicious!

lisaiscooking said...

I agree that this could very well be the best sauce for chicken! I love mushroom sauce and the tarragon sounds great.

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

I don't have much experience with using tarragon but I do have some dried in my spice cupboard, so if you say it's the best sauce ever, I'm sure to give it a try!