How To Make Tarragon Chicken

Tarragon Chicken is actually a French dish and is really called Poulet a l’Estragon. If that’s too much of a mouthful, then just call it Tarragon Chicken! This is one of my favorite recipes to make for company because you can dress it up and make it elegant (use different kinds of chicken pieces) or just do it with chicken legs or thighs.

This recipe is a French recipe for chicken that I have used for 30+ years and got it in my old Betty Crocker International Cookbook. I recently made it for a Sunday dinner and it was a simple yet elegant dinner that I had almost forgotten about.

Serve this delicious dish over hot cooked noodles (I use yolkless) and perhaps with a green salad or a vegetable. I served it with asparagus and it was a wonderful Sunday dinner!

I also did not have dry white wine so I substituted Marsala wine and it was still delicious.

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6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

2-1/2 to 3 pounds of chicken (the recipe calls for a cut up chicken although I used all drumsticks since that was what I had.  Next time may use boneless, skinless thighs or a combination of skinless drumsticks and thighs)
1 cup chicken broth (or other broth)
4 medium carrots, sliced
1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon (snipped) or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
4 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup half and half (I substituted skim milk)
3 tablespoons flour
1 egg yolk
Hot cooked noodles

PREPARATION

Heat the chicken, chicken broth, carrots and tarragon with salt, pepper and bay leaf in a 12-inch skillet to boiling (I used a sateuse pan – a large-bottomed soup pan with short sides basically). Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add mushrooms, celery and onion. Heat to boiling again, reduce the heat. Cover and simmer until chicken is done – about 15 minutes.
Remove the chicken and vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Drain the liquid, strain and reserve 1 cup or so.
Pour the reserved liquid back into the skillet. Add wine. Mix half and half and egg yolk until smooth and stir into the wine and liquid mixture in the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened.
Serve with the chicken and over noodles.

Summing It Up

French cooking doesn’t have to be difficult.  Cooking a meal for company doesn’t have to be spectacular.  All that is needed in truth is good, palatable food cooked with love and served with relish – not the kind that goes on hot dogs! 

Some of my simplest meals have been my best because they were simply ‘comfort’ type foods if you like but when getting together with family or friends, sometimes that is the best thing to offer.  Keeping a meal simple allows the host or hostess to relax and remember the real reason for the meal – getting together. 

Serve this with just about any kind of salad or vegetable and it will be a hit.  For a simple dessert, try my Biscuit Tortoni recipe or my Danish Pudding.

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