Tarragon Chicken

OK. I know it's been a while but we have been busy.  December was written off with every spare hour devoted to DIY in the run up to Christmas.  Then there was Christmas itself.  We had a house full for all of Christmas week, with both sets of R's grandparents wanting to share in his first proper Christmas.  I'm still, after over a year of blogging, uncomfortable photographing food when in a group of people.  I also didn't think it would be particularly polite to my guests to sit and type for the whole of the holidays.

Needless to say we ate well.  We kept Christmas day traditional with turkey* and all of the trimmings.  We also had; Chicken in Fig Sauce, Salmon in Champagne, Oxtail Ragu, Goat Curry and on New Years Eve we tucked into Steak and Chips.  Needless to say not every dish was to everyone's taste but cooking for six for a week, when you want every dish to be special, is tricky and not something I'm used to.

But that was then and this is now.  2013 is a new year and I was on the hunt for a new food challenge.  I've loved writing this blog but it was starting to feel a little forced.  What I needed was some focus and that has turned up in the shape of Everything But The Oink.  I'm going to attempt to eat everything that is edible from pigs over the course of the year.  I don't know how it will go but you can follow the results here.

However, man cannot live by pig alone** so there will still be room for other dishes and blog posts here on Tonight's Menu.  The first of the year is chicken in tarragon sauce.  I had bought a bunch of tarragon to make bearnaise sauce for our New Year's Eve steak and had lots left over.  This was such an easy and tasty meal to cook I'm amazed we haven't done it before. 

Onions are softened in the pan the the chicken was browned in, before a glass of wine is added.  Once that is reduced to about a couple of tablespoons you stir in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, double cream and the tarragon.  All that is left to do is return the chicken to the pan and sling the whole lot in the oven until the chicken is cooked.  You could serve this with rice or roasties and you can easily add the veg of your choosing.  After a couple of hectic weeks we kept it simple with boiled potatoes and steamed leeks.

*I know there are foodies out there who turn their nose up at turkey but I maintain that a good turkey is a thing of glory.  We also had enough leftover to line the freezer with goodies for the next few months.
**It is possible that man could live by pig alone but I'm NOT taking that challenge.