- Lunch |
- Dinner
Andy Cooks' Chicken A La King
- 15 MIN
|
- 25 MIN
|
- SERVES 4
"When I was growing up, Nanna Hearnden was the most impeccably dressed person I knew. Even the tablecloth would be perfectly ironed when we went over for dinner. She’d place this dish in the middle of the table and we’d all help ourselves. These days, I’ll swap the peas for asparagus when it’s in season. And you could serve this with fettuccine instead of rice, your call. Just iron your tablecloth and make Nanna proud." - Andy Cooks
Ingredients
- -2 ½ tbsp olive oil
- -500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 1cm-thick strips
- - Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- - 200g swiss or button mushrooms, quartered
- - 1 onion, thinly sliced
- - 1 red capsicum, finely sliced
- - 3 cloves garlic, minced
- - 200ml white wine (avoid dry, sweet is best)
- - 60g butter
- - 50g plain flour
- - 250ml chicken stock
- - 200g frozen peas
- - 200ml thickened or pouring cream
- - Small bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely sliced
- - Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. As it just started to smoke, add the chicken, in batches so as to not crowd the pan, then season with salt. (If you cook all the chicken at once, you’ll lose all the temperature in your pan too quickly and the chicken will start to boil instead). Cook the chicken, turning often, for 3-4 minutes or until coloured all over. Transfer to a bowl. Add the mushrooms to the pan, season with salt, then sauté for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned and about half cooked. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the onion to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened, then add the capsicum. Season with salt, cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the capsicum has softened, then add the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the wine, let it come to the boil, then stir constantly to loosen all the lovely, browned bits stuck to the base of the pan to deglaze. Cook until the wine has almost completely reduced, then transfer the mixture to a bowl.
- Add the butter to the pan then, once it has melted, add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes to cook the flour out. Whisking continuously to prevent lumps from forming, slowly add the chicken stock and cook, until the mixture simmers and a smooth sauce forms. Return the chicken, mushrooms and capsicum mixture to the pan and stir to combine with the sauce.
- Add the peas, bring to a simmer, then cook for 2-3 minutes or until the peas and tender and the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the cream and bring back to a simmer. Finally, check the seasoning and grind in some black pepper. Garnish the chicken with parsley and serve with steamed rice.