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Dijon-Tarragon Chicken: Your Ultimate Bistro Dinner

A romantic dinner setting for two featuring the complete Dijon-Tarragon Chicken meal.

A complete French bistro-style meal featuring three distinct components: Dijon-Tarragon Chicken, cheesy mashed potatoes, and sautéed rainbow chard. The main dish is pan-seared chicken served in a creamy pan sauce made with white wine, crème fraîche, Dijon mustard, and fresh tarragon. This is accompanied by rich mashed potatoes infused with garlic and melted Brie or Camembert cheese, and a side of rainbow chard sautéed with crispy bacon and leeks.

Ingredients

Scale
  • Mashed Potatoes with Brie or Camembert:
  • 4 medium or 3 large russet potatoes
  • 4 large cloves of garlic
  • Salt
  • 1/4 cup milk or chicken stock
  • 8 ounces ripe Brie or Camembert
  • White pepper or finely ground black pepper, to taste
  • Dijon-Tarragon Chicken:
  • 4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons EVOO
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large or 2 medium shallots
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1 cup chicken stock or bone broth
  • About 1/3 cup creme fraiche or 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 lemon
  • About 1/4 cup stemmed fresh tarragon
  • Chard with Bacon and Leeks:
  • About 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large bundle rainbow chard
  • 6 slices meaty bacon
  • 1 leek, trimmed
  • Salt and pepper
  • A little freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
  • 1/2 lemon

Instructions

  1. For the Mashed Potatoes: Peel and cube the potatoes. Smash two cloves of garlic. Place potatoes and smashed garlic in a saucepot, cover with water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Drain the potatoes and garlic and return them to the hot pot. Add the milk or stock and the cheese, and mash until smooth. Season with pepper and keep covered.
  2. For the Dijon-Tarragon Chicken: While the potatoes cook, pound the chicken breasts to an even 1/2-inch thickness and cut into pieces if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO and butter. When the butter foams, add the chicken and brown on both sides, about 6 to 7 minutes total. Remove the chicken to a plate.
  4. To the same skillet, add the chopped shallot and garlic and stir for about a minute. Pour in the white wine and reduce it to about 1/4 cup.
  5. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the creme fraiche or heavy cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
  6. Stir in the Dijon mustard and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Add the chopped tarragon, then slide the chicken and any juices back into the pan. Keep warm.
  7. For the Chard with Bacon and Leeks: While the chicken is cooking, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with olive oil. Chop and add the bacon to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes until crisp.
  8. Stem the chard and chop the stems; shred the greens. Chop the leek. Add the chard stems and leek to the bacon and stir for 2 minutes.
  9. Add the chard greens to the skillet and cook until wilted. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon.
  10. To Serve: Serve the Dijon-Tarragon chicken alongside the cheesy mashed potatoes and the sautéed chard with bacon.

Notes

  • This recipe is designed to be cooked concurrently, with instructions for each component intended to be worked on at the same time for an efficient cooking process.
  • Pounding the chicken to an even thickness ensures it cooks quickly and evenly.
  • Making the chicken pan sauce in the same skillet used to brown the chicken incorporates all the flavorful browned bits (fond).
  • The stems of the chard are cooked first with the leeks as they are tougher than the leaves.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://www.eatswithsoul.com/tarragon-chicken/