Chicken Fricassee

Tarragon

Although you may not be familiar with it, tarragon is a very common herb used in lots of French cooking. It is often used to flavor vinegar and pairs very nicely with chicken as in this dish. You will frequently find this plant growing in people's herb gardens in France, but if you are having a hard time locating it, you can buy organic dried Tarragon here.

If you don't wish to flavor your fricassee with tarragon, try any other herb or combination of herbs you wish. Thyme or rosemary would also go nicely with this chicken fricassee.

Meaning of Fricassee

Fricassee is a loosely used term in French cooking. You will find lamb, veal and rabbit fricassees as well as mushroom fricassee. Basically it is a cooking method where the meat and/or vegetable are fried lightly, sprinkled with flour (which eventually thickens the sauce in which the meat cooks) and than bouillon or wine is added. The pan is than covered to finish the cooking process.

So fricassee is easy and you get a nice name to go with it. Since this particular recipe gets a lot of heavy cream, you might want to save it for meals when you have company. It goes well with rice, and I love it with brown rice. Go light with the entree (tossed salads are an eternal favorite here in France too), and serve something with fruit for dessert.

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Fricassée de Poulet

Sprinkle

• 6 to 8 pieces of skinned chicken with
• salt and pepper

In a heavy, large skillet, heat

• 3 tablespoons butter

Add the chicken, cooking it on all sides without browning. After about 5 minutes, add

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

Sprinkle on

• 2 tablespoons flour and stir well.

Add

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup white wine

Cover and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to a serving dish and cook the sauce down for another five minutes. Stir in

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Return the chicken to the pan and keep warm until serving.

6 to 8 servings

Variations:

If you wish to cook your vegetables at the same time, add them along with the onions in the above recipe. Julienned carrots and sliced mushrooms are especially good in this dish.

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