Chicken Chasseur

Misty Moon

Hi

Does anyone know how to make Chicken Chasseur from scratch? I got some packet soups and sauces from a friend who was moving house a while back and made it using the Knorr Mealmaker sauce. Definitely one of my favourite dishes. Chicken casserole recipes I've seen don't seem to be the same thing. Saw a mention of cassoulet on another thread, would that be similar?

Would love to be able to make Chasseur from scratch.

The Sweeper

Hey Misty M,

Depending what your friend put in it; I use a whole chicken, jointed and skinned; chicken stock, some red pepper, mushrooms, onions, garlic, lots of fresh tarragon and a good slug of white wine.

Soften onions in some oil and add garlic. Season well. Brown chicken pieces. Add red pepper and soften. Add mushrooms and immediatley pour over stock, wine and chopped tarragon. Add a bayleaf and put in the oven on a low heat for ages.

Serve with rice or mashed potato.

Try googing "hunter's chicken" for a recipe, or I'll make the above more specific if you're interested.

Misty Moon

Thanks for that. Sounds similar to what I've done but I've always had to use the Knorr packet sauce. I'm not sure just stock would be the same, although maybe with the garlic, tarragon and bay leaf the taste might not be too far off. The packet gives quite a thick sauce - it's more like a light coloured gravy and has quite a rich texture.

For what it's worth, here's what I do:

Brown chicken briefly in pan - place in casserole dish
Chop mushrooms and onion and fry for a minute or two till softened, add to the chicken.
Add a tomato, chopped roughly.
Add peeled, sliced carrots.
Make up the sauce (mix water with packet contents, I usually end up using more water than they suggest) and pour over the chicken and veg.

Cook in oven for at least an hour and a half, preferably even longer on a low heat. About an hour before I want to eat I add potatoes and let them cook in it. Don't believe in dirtying any more pots and pans than necessary

The Sweeper

Basically, do exactly the same thing, but instead of a packet of sauce use a mixture of white wine, good chicken stock, tarragon, salt, pepper and add a bayleaf.

Put it in the oven, when you take it out again if the sauce isn't thick try using a large slotted spoon to remove the chicken and vegetables from the liquid, and put them aside on a warmed plate. Put your casserole over a medium heat on the hob. Mix a tablespoon of flour with a tablespoon of softened butter until it's smooth. Now whisk this, dollop by dollop, through your gently simmering sauce. Keep stirring and it will thicken up lovely.

Then I'd put the chicken and vegetables back into the thick sauce and leave it on a low heat on the hob until ready to serve.

One thing that I find useful with packet sauces is to read the ingredients on the back if you're trying to recreate something you like.

Here's the ingredients list from a Coleman's Chicken Chasseur dry packet mix: Wheat Flour, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Tomato Powder, Onion Powder, Flavourings, Dried Mushrooms, Sugar, Parsley (1.5%), Yeast Extract, Garlic Extract, Barley Malt Extract (contains wheat), Black Pepper, Vegetable Oil, Spice Extract, Herb Extracts.

Based on that, I might add some parsley to my chicken chasseur along with the tarragon.

The contents of a jar of chicken tonight chasseur sauce contains these:

Water, Onions, Tomato Purèe, Red Wine (7.5%), Carrots, Sunflower Oil, Modified Maize Starch, Sherry, Lactic Acid, Sugar, Yeast Extract, Fructose, Salt, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Flavourings, Herbs & Spices, Garlic, Chilli Extract.

I'd stick to white wine in mine instead of read, because I think red would make it more like coc au vin. I might add a tablespoon of sherry and an extra chopped tomato to the casserole dish - perhaps even a heaped teaspoon of tomato puree. I could add carrots if I wanted, but I prefer red peppers and mushrooms.

Packet sauces are a thing of undeserved mysticism. Once you realise you can recreate the flavour yourself relatively easily, and without the additives, you'll never go back.

Shabadu

The Talleyrand original was fundamentally demi glace, tomato concassé, and button mushrooms with the chicken.

Demi glace is basically a good brown stock, thickened with a brown roux, and with a glug of madeira. Majd thickens hers using a beurre manier, which is just as good as a brown roux. In fact, the only way my recipe would differ Majd's recipe is that I would actually reduce and thicken the stock before popping it in the oven.

So, I would sauté the onion and garlic until quite brown, deglaze the pot with some Madeira, sherry or white wine, add the stock and chopped & deseeded tomatoes & herbs, reduce well, thicken, and pour into the hot casserole containing the browned chicken and whole button mushrooms.

In traditional French cookery you'd be serving this with fondant potatoes, gamechips, croutons etc., but i'd go for broccoli and a few spuds thrown into the casserole.

tady

I know what I'm makin' for dinner tonight!!!!

Great recipe suggestions folks. Thanks for all the info. Sounds super!!!

T