Jan 12, 2010

Cooking with Gas

One of my Dad's well-thumbed recipe scrapbooks contains the prized method for cooking chicken breasts in brandy. Ever since he plucked it out of some sort of French cuisine magazine in the early 90s, it's been a family favourite. We used to have it with skin on the chicken breasts, which comes up lovely and crispy after the brandy flambé, and we used to use full-fat cream to make the delicious sauce. But in the interests of "health", these days we opt for skinless chicken breasts and light cream.

It still tastes damn delicious.

You start by seasoning chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper, then frying them in a little butter. Keep the cooked pieces warm in a baking dish in the oven, until they're all done. Place all the pieces back in the pan, then heat up your brandy in a ladle - or, if you're like me and don't own a ladle, in a small saucepan.

Then comes the fun part. We turn now, to Girl Clumsy Birdseye Kitchen Cam:



To make the sauce, throw a small tub of cream into the pan after taking the chicken (and tofu if you're also catering for vegetarians who don't mind you cooking in the same pan as tasty animal flesh), and stir it up with the brandy residue. Add in a spoonful of capers, and salt and pepper to season. Stir over low heat until it boils, then pour over the chicken in the baking dish.

Voilà!

10 comments:

  1. Hahahaha, that was wonderful.
    So you're cooking dinner friday, Yeah?

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  2. Orsum! Is there a longer version with the entire recipe? Besides being an uber-manly idol of millions I'm also very handy in the kitchen. (This is where I insert the joke about not needing a hand mixer with guns like these).

    Great accent by the way.

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  3. Flaming wonderfull,

    and it can't be a traditional french reciepe as it only calls for a small tub of cream. Most I have encountered require a bucket.

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  4. Brilliant. Any burn marks on the ceiling?

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  5. Yoink. Comment transplant.

    I WANNA SET MY FOOD ON FIRE TOO!!!!

    Whoever created tofu needs to be taken over by communism and their civil rights be quashed .... oh .... wait ...

    TAKE THAT, TOFU CREATORS

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  6. My lovely wife does Banana flambé much to my horror. What with the multiple house fires in my past, an inferno in the kitchen unsettles me as much as these new fangled micro,.. wave ovens.

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  7. Hey Nat, your guess is as good as mine re the giveaway... just a random email out of the blue!

    Excellent cooking segment! Bruising Adventures of Girl Culinary Next perhaps?

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  8. I love it...especially the flames..completely professional...looks like I need to go to the "Natalie Bochenski Cooking School!"

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  9. Sounds good! Can I get an order-to go?

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  10. eat your heart out Nigella

    Young and lovely matter

    ReplyDelete