Chicken With Riesling Cream Sauce

Submitted by Michelle_My_Belle

"From Black Forest Cuisine im sure chicken breasts could be very easily substituted for the whole roasting chickens, as the recipe is mostly about the sauce but if you do,*important* be sure to have enough chicken broth on hand (canned or homemade with bullion) to amount to 3 cups reduced"

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 2 (2 1/2 lb) roasting chickens (2 1/2 to 3 lbs each, legs tied together with kitchen twine)
• 1 onion (whole)
• 6 whole cloves
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped (about 3 tbsps)
• 1⁄2 small white onion, peeled and finely chopped (about 3 tbsps)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups riesling wine (or other delicate fruity white wine, sweet is key)
• 1 cup white pearl onion, peeled
• 2 cups white button mushrooms (quartered)
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream
• fresh parsley (Chopped)

directions

1. Place the chickens in a large saucepan or casserole and cover with cold water.
2. Pierce the onion with the cloves and place in the pot.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and gently simmer until the chickens are fully cooked, about 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Discard the onion, remove the chickens from the pan, and set aside, covered, while finishing the dish.
5. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat and reduce by about three-quarters. (Make sure you end up with at least 3 cups of reduced broth.) Strain and set aside.
6. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the shallots and onion, and sauté until translucent and softened, about 2 minutes.
7. Whisk in the flour to make a roux, add the Riesling and 3 cups of the reduced broth, and bring to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the sauce until is thickened, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 5 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the pearl onions and mushrooms, and sauté until the onions are slightly translucent and the mushrooms are slightly softened.
10. Remove the kitchen twine from the chickens and carve them, removing the breast meat, separating the legs and thighs, and reserving the wings for another use.
11. Arrange the chicken pieces on a serving platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and spoon the pearl onions and mushrooms overtop.
12. To finish the sauce, stir the heavy cream into the thickened sauce and season with salt and pepper.
13. To serve, pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley. Serve with spätzle or egg noodles.

Reviews

[momaphet]

This is a very light wine/onion flavored sauce, that I also would have liked to be thicker (my DH made the same comment). After making the roux and adding the liquids, it looked very thin so I cooked simmered it a while then I added a little more flour and broth mix in hopes of thickening it some more but was afraid to add too much. I cooked one 5 lb chicken and even if I'd done two I think there would have been too much sauce (I love sauce and don't usually find this to be an issue) I think cutting back the liquids to 2 cups each would be better. Because of the quantity and thinness of the sauce I only used a half pint of cream, I think more would have taken away from the light flavor. I liked the flavor of the pearl onions and mushrooms, but the onion totally overwhelmed the sauce. I would skip them if I made this again. The boiled chicken was ugly so I took it all off the bones and put the meat in the sauce them served it over noodles , I put the mushrooms and onion on the side and spooned more sauce over the top. I used frozen pearl onions and a delicious Spatlese which I also served with the dish. This ended up taking about 2 hours to prepare, which time vs results bumped this from an almost 4 down to a 3 star.

 

[3KillerBs]

The chicken was very moist and tender, though the skin was so unappealing that I took it off before serving. The sauce is subtle rather than bold -- making a delicately-flavored meal that was very nice for a family where people have been sick repeatedly this winter. I enriched the broth by adding the giblets as the chicken cooked. I would have preferred the sauce to be considerably thicker though. It might be improved by adding a dash of thyme and a dash of celery seed. The onion and mushroom mix was an excellent accompaniment even though I had to make do with regular, chopped onions and canned mushrooms. I served rice rather than noodles and green beans for an enjoyable meal.