Coaching Cooking

I know you’re all sick of hearing about Bonny Doon, but I must present the following recipe adapted from a BDV recipe I collected several years ago while living close to the BDV tasting room. It’s pretty quick and tastes spectacular.

Chicken Framboise (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1/2 cup of framboise (Bonny Doon’s is the best, trust me…)
1 tsp minced thyme plus thyme sprigs for garnish
4 boneless chicken breasts with skin
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup of flour
3 T cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces
1 T olive oil
1/3 cup of dry white wine (try Bonny Doon’s Big House White..it’s a screwcap which = easy to open)
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 shallot minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T water

Directions: Wash the raspberries and reserve at least 4 good-looking ones for garnish. Press half of the remaining berries through a sieve and stir in the framboise.

Prepare the chicken breasts by removing the tenders (the little pieces to the side of the chicken breast that are easy to pull off). Reserve the tenders for another use. Then cut each chicken breast in half, evenly. Place each half piece on a cutting board and pound with a large can or meat pounder until the breasts are half-inch thick (put Saran wrap on the chicken breast before pounding). After the mild workout place the chicken breast halves on a plate and prepare the saute pan.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees (for keeping the chicken breasts warm after cooking).

In a heavy saute pan (non-stick is helpful in this recipe), melt 1/2 T of butter and 1/2 T olive oil over medium high heat. Place the flour on a large plate and flour each chicken breast half before adding to the saute pan (saute 2-4 chicken breast halves at a time, depending on the size of your saute pan). Cook for a few minutes so each chicken breast half is browned at the edges. Transfer the chicken to an oven-proof pan or plate and keep warm in the oven.

Add the wine, balsamic vinegar, chopped shallots and minced thyme to the skillet and boil on medium high heat while stirring to deglaze the pan. I keep the fat from the chicken breasts for added flavor, but you can also pour it out before preparing the sauce. Add the chicken stock and the cornstarch-water mixture and cook until the sauce is reduced to 1/4 cup. Stir in the raspberry-framboise mixture. The sauce should be fairly thick (add a bit more cornstarch and water if it isn’t). Then remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the remaining 2.5 T of butter. Salt and pepper to taste and remove the chicken breast halves from the oven. Top each chicken piece with the sauce and a few fresh raspberries and serve two chicken pieces per person. Thyme is also a nice, colorful garnish and it makes you look fancy!

This dish does not yield a lot of sauce so the ingredients for the sauce can be doubled if you prefer more sauce. I recommend serving this dish with buttered noodles or with creamy mashed potatoes.

Bon appetit!