REAL food simply prepared
Have you ever wondered why it is that the old-school dishes are the ones that are the most popular? Some would call them “safe”, others call them “boring.” I call them, “money”.
Sure, it is easy to manipulate, marinate this chicken, or pair it with some exotic vegetable or sauce. Perhaps we can stuff it with something like truffles or the like.
Please don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with those types of dishes. They push the boundaries of what we call cuisine.
Ask yourself though, if you had to choose a last meal, would it be one of those convoluted dishes with complicated ingredients? Ingredients that have put their Air miles in from across the globe? Would you even be able to recognise the dish if you looked at it?
Lemon Rosemary Chicken – An Un-Recipe
This dish is about simplicity. A breast of chicken is marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon, and rosemary. You season it with salt and pepper, sear it until it is golden, then roast the chicken in the oven until it is perfectly done.
Whilst that is working, you deglaze the fond in the bottom of the pan with a little wine, and add a bit of chicken broth to the mix. Reduce until the liquid is concentrated, and swirl in a squeeze of lemon juice.
The final touch is to bruise a branch of rosemary with your fingers and stir the sauce with it. (What that does is let in the essential oils of the rosemary into the sauce. You need to do it last minute, because they are volatile.)
Do you have a go-to SIMPLE chicken dish? I would love to hear about it.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
My go to chicken dish would be something like yours, though it would not be half as beautiful. GREG
@GREG – Well, I am sure you are not charging 35$ for the 3 course meal either. It has to be beautiful when you are charging that amount. I am sure (after devoring everything on your site) that you could serve it up really pretty!
monter au buerre would add that shine, consistency and depth to it but its not italian so whatever it will slide.
to be picky, i mean if your gonna slice a chicken breast might as well do it in 4, to slice in half there is no point, as well you missing heeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiggggggggghhhhhhhhhht, c’mon put in on an angle slightly on the veg and mash, that branch of rosmary has no point on the plat except for preso, you can not eat it so there is real no point to have it on the plate if it is gonna end up in the garbage, its a waste of herb and dollars, and i do understand that you are showin that this ingredient was used in the preparation so therefore it should have a place on the plate
sorry for being a hard ass
@Benjamin. Yah, to Montre is very French, and adds too much to the dish. I agree about height, but remember this is a banquet, and there are metal lids that go over top the plate, so that ruins your height. (Also, this picture was taken with the plate in the hands of a server…) As for cutting the chicken, I think that cutting it too much is like playing with it, and I hate that.
Yes, the rosemary might be excessive, as a throw-away garnish. I never understood completely that concept, as we also present a chicken breast with the bone frenched… and that goes into the garbage too. Using that logic, it is a waste of product AND labour. In the end, the rosemary is there so that the client can see, and get a smell of the bruised rosemary when the dish is presented.
And as for being a hard ass, ah – I have heard worse. Keeps me motivated.
{ 1 trackback }