Pan-Roasted Chicken with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Herbs

This recipe provides an easy alternative to roasting the whole poulet rouge, and the technique can be adapted to most poultry.  You will first need to fabricate the whole chicken in order to obtain the breasts and leg-thigh combos this recipe calls for.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Roasted Yams and Herbs
(serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts and 2 thigh-leg combos.
2 yams or sweet potatoes
fresh rosemary
1 cup heavy cream
one shallot
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tbs of butter
½ cup dry white wine
Oil for the pan (peanut, vegetable, olive (not extra virgin))

Cooking Procedure:

1.  Dry the chicken pieces, then season with salt and pepper.

2.  Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of high-temp oil to the pan. Once hot, add the chicken skin-side down. Once placed, try not to move them around too much, as the goal is to develop a flavorful sear.

3.  After the skin side is golden brown, flip the chicken and throw in a few sprigs of thyme and the butter. As the butter melts, use it to baste the chicken pieces for flavor and moisture.

4.  Continue cooking, basting frequently, until chicken is done (if unsure, use a thermometer to make sure it has reached 165 degrees). If cooking leg-thigh combos and breasts simultaneously, it is likely the breasts will finish first. Remove them from the pan and finish the dark meat in the oven (~375).

5.  Once all of the chicken is done, move it to a plate to rest, and add one peeled and finely sliced shallot and white wine to the pan. Stir to dislodge and dissolve the brown bits at the bottom of the pan (called fond in French cuisine).

6.  Cook for a few minutes until the wine is reduced to the au sec stage (the pan is almost dry), then add cream. Reduce the sauce to napper (coats the back of a spoon without running off, and running your finger through the coating leaves a clearly visible stripe of spoon) and strain if desired.

7.  Slice the breasts (if used) at an angle for your guest’s convenience and move to a bed of roasted yam/sweet potato on the plate. Spoon on some of the cream pan sauce (but don’t hide the meat too much, you’ve worked hard for that beautiful brown color).

Serve.

Roast Yams or Sweet Potatoes

1.  Preheat oven to 375.

2. Rough chop the yams or potatoes into equivalent sized pieces.

3.  Place in a single layer in a baking dish and season lightly with salt, pepper and oil.  Put in the hot oven to roast.

4.  Remove the yam from the oven halfway through cooking (about 20 minutes in) to turn pieces. Return to the oven for an additional twenty minutes or until soft.

5. When finished remove from the oven and garnish with fresh rosemary.

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