Chicken Pommery

Chicken Pommery  or Chicken with Whole Grain Mustard Sauce.

My extremely patient mother in law has been waiting for months for this recipe. The hold up has been that although this is a recipe I make quite often, I very seldom make it the same way twice.

My dad adapted this recipe from a Chicken Pommery served at the late, great Bellucci’s Restaurant in Kansas City. This was always one of my favorite dishes on their menu but their version was SINFULLY good – full of heavy cream and served over pasta. We’ve lightened things up quite a bit for a more healthful take on their recipe.

The name Chicken Pommery is from the wonderful French Pommery Mustard that comes in this neat ceramic crock.

I can occasionally find it at Whole Foods (and you can even order it from amazon), but it’s pricy. Unless I can find it on sale, a good whole grain mustard like Maille or even Grey Poupon is a fine sustitute.

Here’s what you need:

Chicken Breasts, Butter, Shallots or Onion, Mushrooms, Whole Grain Mustard, Capers, White Wine, Olive Oil, Chicken Broth*, Salt & Pepper.  (heavy cream optional)

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I usually use shallots in this recipe so if you have a large shallot, slice it nice and thin. If not, about 1/4 of a medium yellow onion will do. Thinly slice 8 oz of fresh  button mushrooms.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat in a large pan. I like to use the butter/oil combo so that you get the flavor of the butter but the higher cooking temp of the oil.

I have 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves that I have cut in half. Cutting them in half not only gives you the option of a smaller portion, but more importantly helps control the cooking time. The smaller pieces will take less time to cook, leaving them more juicy and tender, and also allow you to monitor the cooking time of the thicker pieces vs. the thin ones.

Season the chicken with salt & pepper and brown it on both sides in the olive oil, about 3-4 minutes per side. The chicken does not need to cook all the way through. Once nicely browned, remove the chicken to a plate.

You might need to add just a bit more olive oil to the pan if it is dry then add the onions/shallots and mushrooms.

Keep the heat on medium high so that the mushrooms sear and get nice golden brown edges. This is a Julia Child trick to brown the mushrooms a bit more quickly and keep them from withering away to nothingness as they cook.

Once the mushrooms are browned (about 5 minutes), add 1 cup of good, dry white wine to the pot. I like to cook with Savignon Blanc or a dry Chardonnay. *Note:  if you’d rather not use so much wine, you can use 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup chicken broth. I would encourage you to at least use part wine as that is where the bulk of the flavor for the sauce comes from. Most, if not all, of the alcohol will burn off as the dish cooks.

Add 1 heaping Tablespoon of whole grain mustard and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Feel free to add more mustard to taste.

Return the chicken and any juices that have accumulated on the plate to the pan. Add 2 Tablespoons of drained capers. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the chicken has cooked through, about 12-15 minutes.

I like to keep the sauce a bit on the brothy side. However, if you’d like a thicker sauce, you can remove the chicken once again and boil the sauce to reduce and thicken. Or you can add heavy cream…

I serve this a couple of ways, sometimes with rice pilaf or a side of very thin spaghetti and sometimes just on it’s own with a nice piece of crusty French bread for dipping. My all time favorite side to serve it with is the Quinoa with Brown Butter & Arugula.

I’m a big fan of the chicken and mustard combo. Chicken Pommery joins Easy Chicken Dijon as favorites that I will make over and over again.

This recipe can easily be expanded/contracted for any number of servings. It also makes a great leftover.

Here’s the recipe:

Chicken Pommery