Lightly battered pan-fried chicken breast with an elegant white wine lemon sauce.
Its got a terrific crust that soaks up the sauce!
Lovely restaurant dish thats simple to make at home.
The sauce in my Chicken Francese is slightly thickened with flour which I prefer over watery sauce!
Today, we are battering and saucing.
The battering is a little unique.
Speaking of the sauce!
The sauce in my Chicken Francese is slightly thickened with flour which I prefer over watery sauce!
Its an elegant white wine sauce thats savoury with a subtle brightness from lemon.
It doesnt taste winey because its reduced to cook out the alcohol.
I personally think most recipes use way too much lemon which makes it lip-puckeringly sour.
Also, not all recipes thicken the sauce, its thinner.
I am firmly in the thickened sauce camp.
Like so:
So, if all that sounds good to you, read on!
We only need 2 because we cut them in half horizontally to form 4 thin steaks in total.
Get big ones, so one piece makes a sufficient serving for a meal.
Boneless thighswill also work.
Pound to even thickness to get a nice flat surface on both sides so the egg batter cooks evenly.
Eggsandmilkwhisked together make up the batter than the chicken is dipped in before frying.
Flouris used to thicken then sauce and for coating the chicken before dipping in the egg.
It makes the egg cling better to the chicken and also makes the crust a little bit crispy.
Wine Chardonnay is the best all-rounder cooking wine, in my opinion, for flavour.
It is the only white wine I stock for cooking these days.
No need to use an expensive one!
Pretty well documented by cooking authorities thattheres no need to use expensive winefor cooking.
Buy discounted bottles I use ~$15 bottles discounted to ~$5.
Substitutewith non-alcoholic white wine.
Chicken stock/brothis the other liquid that makes up the sauce.
Butterfor the sauce andolive oilfor cooking the chicken.
We discard the surplus olive oil (which gets black bits in it) before adding the butter.
Lemon Cut into slices then pan fried before adding back into the sauce.
A very specific Chicken Francese step!
Chicken Francese with a side of pan-seared asparagus (recipe in notes) and bread for mopping.
More on this in the How To Make section below.
How to make Chicken Francese
A nice, leisurely 15 minute cook.
We first pan-fry the battered chicken cutlets then make the sauce in the same pan.
Prevent screen from sleeping
Cuteach breast in half horizontally to form 4 thin steaks in total.
Flour coating Mix flour, salt and pepper on a plate (I use my fingertips).
Cook chicken Put the chicken straight into the pan.
Then continue to coat the remaining chicken pieces.
Cook the chickenfor 3 minutes until golden.
Then remove onto a plate.
The chicken will rest while were making the sauce.
Its ok if it cools down, it will warm up when we put it back in the sauce.
This flavour is then released into the sauce when we pop the lemon slices in at the end.
This is a step that is unique to Chicken Francese!
Cleanthe pan by giving it a quick wipe down with paper towels.
Youll see there are lots of black bits from cooking the chicken.
No need to wash with detergent, just get rid of most of the black bits.
Roux Next, we move onto the sauce.
This pasty mixture in the pan is called arouxand this is what thickens the sauce.
Make the sauce While stirring, slowly pour in half the stock.
Keep stirring until the roux is mixed into the stock.
Then you could pour the remaining stock in along with the wine, salt and pepper.
Then mix to combine.
Worst case strain it.
Sauce thickness This is what youre aiming for.
About the thickness of maple syrup.
Finishing Once the sauce is the right thickness, its time to bring it all together!
Then spoon sauce all over the chicken, then its dinnertime!
Youll end up with over a cup in the pan in addition to the sauce clinging to the chicken.
Who wouldnt want white wine lemon sauce on their breakfast eggs???!
There is less than the equivalent of 1 egg left so it makes a thin omelette crepe.
