French Chicken a L’Orange with Chardonnay

Join us on this week episode of Ballgowns and Booze as Natalie and Elouise cook a delicious ‘French Chicken a L’Orange’ and pair this with Verwood’s Chardonnay. Natalie particularly enjoyed this food wine pairing as it makes the Verwood Chardonnay, a very smooth wine, drier and slightly more acidic.

Canard a L’Orange is a traditional French dish in which a duck is roasted, then served with a rich brown sauce that’s flavoured with sugar and orange juice. The dish is typically made with a duck breast known as Magret.

However, the chicken dish was inspired by Julia Child. The cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“, was published in the 1960s which inspired a love of French food in the U.S. During this time period, Duck a L’Orange became a dinner party staple.

Ingredients:

One red onion- finely chopped
Olive oil
3 clementine
1 lemon
1 vegetable stock cube
White wine
2 chicken breast- finely sliced
Salt – to taste
1 cup of cream
1 spring onion

Instructions:

Finely chop one onion and sliced chicken
Coat bottom of the pan with olive oil on a medium-high heat
When the oil is warm and sizzling add in onions and stir until fully coated – Leave for 8-10 minutes on low heat to brown
Zest clementine and lemon with a cheese grater
Juice 3 clementine and 1 lemon
Put onions back on medium to high heat
Add in the zest and soak in
Add enough white wine to coat bottom of the pan
Add the juice of lemon and clementine
Add the stock cube, no need to crumble
Turn the heat up a little to bring it to a boil
Once brought to a boil, lower the heat and add in slices of chicken
Add salt to taste
Once the sauce has reduced to dryness and the chicken has browned add 1 cup of cream and turn up the heat to medium
Plate up the chicken, use the remainder of the cream in the pan to coat the chicken and garnish with lemon zest and spring onion