A speciality dish from the Franche-Comte region.

Chicken with morels and cream is a speciality recipe from the Franche-Comte region. This is a region of France where dishes are rich using lots of cream, so brace yourself.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast or thighs (best quality you can find)

• 15 g / 1 tbsp unsalted butter

• 2 shallots finely sliced lengthways

• 2 pinches of sea salt or a chicken stock cube

• 40 g (1.4 oz) dried morels soaked in hot water for at least 1 hour (use about 200 ml / 0.8 cup of water)

• 100 ml (3.4 fl oz) to 150 ml (5 fl oz) sherry wine (best to use a dry or medium dry sherry)

• 150 ml (5 fl oz) of morel juice (water that the morels are soaked in)

• 500 ml (17 fl oz) of double cream (heavy whipping cream)

NOTES

• How to use dried morels: Place the dry morels in a bowl and cover with a maximum of 1 cup of hot water. Put a small plate on top of the morels to keep the morels submerged underwater and leave to soak for at least 1 hour. Remove the morels and press the juice out, rinse and set aside for cooking. Make sure you also keep the morel soaking juice for cooking.

• Pair with a chardonnay or a wine from the Jura region.

Instruction

1. Drain the morels and squeeze to extract as much of the soaking water as possible. Keep the water in a bowl for cooking. Then wash the morels under water to remove any sand and drain.

2. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

3. In a frying pan, melt the butter on low heat until it starts to foam.

4. Add the chicken to the pan and colour lightly for 4 minutes on each side, remove from the pan and set aside on a tray.

5. In the remaining fat, lightly cook the shallots for between 1 to 2 minutes then add the morels and stir well. Add the sherry wine and leave to reduce by half. Now add the morel juice and reduce by half again.

6. To finish, correct the seasoning by adding salt or a chicken stock cube in the pot, then add the cream.

7. Turn heat up to medium-high to bring the cream to a boil. When it boils leave to reduce for 10 minutes.

8. Once the sauce has been reduced, place the chicken pieces back into the pan making sure the sauce covers all the chicken pieces.

9. Lower the heat back to a simmer and cook the chicken for a further 15 minutes (it can be more or less depending on the size of the chicken).

10. When cooked, you can adjust the taste of the sauce by adding more morel juice or sherry wine. To serve, place the chicken pieces in a serving dish, sprinkle some morels on top and cover with the sauce.