Chicken sauté with sweet potato mash

This is a comforting dish featuring tender pan-seared chicken breasts served atop a creamy, buttery mash of sweet potatoes. The rich flavours are elevated with a savoury creamy liaison, making it a wholesome and satisfying meal perfect for any night of the week.

Chicken sauté with sweet potato mash. Credit: Rick Stein's Australia

• serves

  4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg organic free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces (see Note)
• 50 g butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250 ml Hunter Valley Semillon or alternative dry Australian white wine
• 250 ml chicken stock (see Note)
• 1 sprig thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 150 g small button mushrooms
• 100 ml crème fraîche
• 2 egg yolks
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sweet potato mash

• 1 kg sweet potato, peeled & cut into 5cm chunks
• 100 g butter
• 60 ml milk
• Salt, to taste

Green lettuce salad with Orléanais dressing

• 1 small garlic clove
• Pinch of salt (for mashing garlic)
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (e.g. Paul Corcelet or Maille)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp sugar
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 2 green-leaf lettuces (e.g. escarole, soft round, butterhead, Batavia)
• or 4–6 little gem lettuces

Instructions

1. Joint the chicken into 8 pieces or ask your butcher to joint it. Season the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper.
2. Heat half the oil and butter in a low casserole pan and brown the chicken pieces, in batches on all sides. Transfer to a plate.
3. Lower the heat, add the chopped shallots and garlic to the pan and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the Semillon, stock, thyme and bay leaves, then return chicken to pan bring to a simmer, cover and leave to cook for 15 mins. Then uncover and cook for a further 15 mins.
5. For the sweet potato mash, boil the sweet potato chunks in salted water for 15-20 minutes or until tender. When cooked, drain in a colander and leave to steam dry for a couple of minutes.
6. Tip the potatoes back into the pan and mash them with a masher adding the butter and milk. Cook over a low heat till thickened stirring constantly. Season well with salt.
7. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms in a little of the remaining butter and oil and season with some salt and pepper. Uncover the chicken, lift the pieces onto a large shallow serving dish and scatter over the mushrooms.
8. Mix the crème fraîche and egg yolks together in a small bowl. Remove the pan from the heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the pan juices to the creme fraiche mixture stirring well. Then crème fraiche liaison to the pan juices, return the pan to a low heat and stir over a very gentle heat until the sauce thickens slightly, like a thin cream consistency, but do not let it boil.
9. For the green salad, lightly crush the garlic clove on a board using the side of a knife. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and mash it into a smooth paste using the blade.
10. Transfer to a small bowl and whisk in the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and sugar.
11. Gradually whisk in the olive oil to emulsify, then season with ¼ teaspoon of salt.
12. Break the lettuce into individual leaves. Wash and dry thoroughly using a salad spinner or clean kitchen towel. Tear into bite-sized pieces and place in a large salad bowl. Just before serving, toss the lettuce leaves with about 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Serve immediately.
13. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve the chicken saute with the sweet potato mash and salad to the side.

 

Notes

• To joint the chicken: Lay the bird breast-side up and pull a leg away from the body. Cut through the skin at the joint, then pull the leg further away, cutting the skin to free it as you go. Turn the bird over and feel along the backbone for the soft oysters of meat. Cut under the oysters with the tip of the knife and remove them with the legs. Cut the legs into 2 pieces at the thigh joint. Remove the breasts still on the bone from the carcass in 1 piece by cutting backwards from the point of the breast down towards the neck through the ribs. (Save the rest of the carcass for stock.) Separate the breasts by cutting lengthways between them, and then cut each one in half on the diagonal so that each piece gets an equal amount of breast meat.
• To make your own chicken stock: Take the bones from a 1.5-kg uncooked chicken (Use the bones from a roasted chicken for a slightly deeper-flavoured stock), or 450 g chicken wings or drumsticks; 1 large carrot, chopped; 2 celery sticks, sliced; 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced; 2 fresh or dried bay leaves; 2 sprigs of thyme; 2.25 litres water; Put all the ingredients into a large pan and bring just to the boil, skimming off any scum from the surface as it appears. Leave to simmer very gently for 2 hours – it is important not to let it boil as this will force the fat from even the leanest chicken and make the stock cloudy. Strain the stock through a sieve and leave it to simmer a little longer to concentrate in flavour if necessary, then use or store (in the refrigerator or freezer) as required. Makes approx. 1.75 litres.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.