Chicken & Poultry
Chicken & Poultry
Chicken Marengo
A classic recipe that never dates
My friend Annette mentioned recently that one of the first recipes she ever cooked for her husband was the classic French dish Chicken Marengo. It reminded me that although I hadn’t cooked it myself for years, I still have a recipe for a version of it in my (now very old and battered!) A Level Home Economics handwritten cookbook. I searched it out and made the dish a couple of nights later. It’s still delicious and the kind of meal you can enjoy all year round - my favourite kind of recipe. Don’t be tempted to leave out the orange rind at the end - that’s what makes it special.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 4 boneless chicken breasts, each cut into 2 or 4 depending on size
- 45g cornflour
- 25g butter
- 25g sunflower oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- Handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 175ml dry white wine
- 200ml chicken stock
- 6 tomatoes, diced
- 150g mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp orange zest
Method
Spread the cornflour out on a plate and season it well. Roll the chicken pieces around in it until they are well coated. Fry in the oil and butter over a fairly high heat until lightly golden. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
Meanwhile, fry the onion, garlic and parsley in the same pan for about 3 mins. Add the wine and stock and stir well, scraping up any of the delicious browned bits from the base. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and chicken and bring to a very gently simmer. Simmer (with the lid off) for about 20 mins, then add the orange zest and simmer for another 5 mins until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
A Cook's Plot Tip
You can use chicken thighs if you prefer, but cook them for a total of 35 mins instead of 25 mins.