Top dish from our Bosun - AMAZING!!

Chicken Savoyarde – Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients: The meat

Whole chicken (2 kg), 2 onions, 2 cloves, 2 carrots halved lengthways

3 celery stalks halved, 2 leeks trimmed, 2 fresh bay leaves, 2 thyme sprigs

salt, 50g fresh breadcrumbs, 25g Parmesan cheese grated

The Sauce:

50g butter, 50g plain flour, 400ml hot stock from the poached chicken

300ml dry white wine, 225ml double cream,100g Gruyere cheese grated

1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 15g fresh tarragon chopped, butter for greasing dish

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Cook the chicken

· Put chicken, 1 onion with the cloves and remaining vegetables into a pot, cover with water

· Bring to boil slowly, remove scum, poach for 1 ½ hours

· Strain stock, discard solids and leave to settle and remove fat with paper towels

· Strip meat from carcass and cut into large bite sized pieces.

Making the sauce:

· Melt butter, add flour, stir in stock, white wine and cream and keep stirring until the mixture thickens.

· Stir in cheese, mustard and tarragon

· Season if necessary

· Simmer for 20 minutes

Putting it together

· Butter a gratin dish

· Put chicken pieces in, pour over sauce, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan

· Bake for 20-25 minutes till golden brown and bubbling at edges

To serve

Serve with new potatoes and crisp green salad.

Culinary tip: A sauce using stock, as above is known as a Velout'e sauce. A sauce using milk is known as a B'echamel sauce.