CHICKEN SAUTE WITH MUSHROOM & MADEIRA SAUCE
If you only ever learn one thing to do with a bottle of Madeira, make it this
Madeira turns up constantly in a professional kitchen, in braised meats, in pan sauces, in all sorts of things. but if there is one thing to. It's one of the simplest sauces you'll find in Escoffier's Guide Culinaire, and it's used and reused throughout the book for good reason.
This version is based on Escoffier's poulet sauté a la perigord, traditionally finished with truffle. We're using button mushroom here instead, which keeps it affordable without losing what makes the dish work.
SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
For the Chicken
2 chicken breasts
2 chicken thighs
Salt and pepper to season
1 tbsp (15 ml) grapeseed oil, or other neutral cooking oil
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
For the Sauce
200 g (7 oz) button mushrooms, quartered
1 shallot, finely diced
60 ml (¼ cup) dry or medium-dry Madeira wine, plus a teaspoon extra to finish the sauce
250 ml (1 cup) Homestyle Demi-Glace or a good-quality reduced brown chicken or veal stock
30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, cubed, to finish
Salt and freshly ground pepper to season
MISE EN PLACE
You will need a large sauté pan or skillet, a fine-mesh sieve and a separate saucepan for finishing the sauce.
Season the chicken pieces and preheat the oven to 50°C (120°F) to keep the cooked pieces warm while you finish the dish.
Quarter the mushrooms and finely dice the shallot.
METHOD
If using, make the Homestyle Demi-Glace in advance according to this recipe.
In the sauté pan, heat the oil with the butter over medium heat. When the butter has melted, arrange the chicken pieces skin side down without overlapping. There's no need to rush this, a good five to seven minutes over medium heat with that mix of butter and oil will give you a deep golden colour without the chicken sticking or the butter burning. When the skin side is nicely coloured, turn the pieces over and lower the heat slightly.
Add the mushrooms to the same pan, letting them cook gently in the chicken juices rather than fresh fat, this is where a lot of the flavour in this dish comes from. The chicken breasts will need about fifteen minutes total, the thighs closer to twenty. Once the breasts are cooked through, transfer them to a plate and keep warm in the oven while the thighs finish. When the mushrooms are nicely caramelised, tip them into the sieve set over a bowl to drain off the excess fat, then set aside. Once the thighs are ready, move them to the oven to join the breasts, and pour off most of the fat left in the pan.
Return the pan to medium heat and add the shallot. Cook gently for a minute, just long enough to soften and pick up some of the caramelised bits left behind by the chicken, without letting it colour. Pour in the Madeira to deglaze, raise the heat, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to work the browned bits into the liquid. Let this reduce for a bit then pour in the reduced stock.
Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and reduce by at least half, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain through the fine-mesh sieve into the clean saucepan to remove the shallot and bit of meat that may be in the pan.
Return the sauce to low heat and taste. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and add a dash of the remaining Madeira if you'd like a little more depth. Stir in a spoonful or two of the mushrooms, keeping the rest to serve alongside the chicken. Take the pan off the heat and swirl in the cold butter cubes a little at a time until the sauce turns glossy.
Finally, pour in any juices that have collected from the resting chicken and stir through. To serve, plate the chicken with the remaining mushrooms and spoon the sauce generously over the top. This is a sauce you want plenty of, so don't hold back.
Tip
Escoffier's original uses truffle rather than button mushroom, so if you want to take this further, morel or porcini will get you much closer to the real thing. The better the mushroom, the better the sauce.
A dry Madeira is the classic choice here. Medium-dry works too, it just leans a little sweeter.
Sauce Madère isn't only for chicken. Escoffier used it across starters, eggs, beef, pork and game dishes