Recipe: Hunter’s Chicken Breasts with Golden Potato Medallions

by Michelle Dudash, Chef and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

April 18, 2012 • 1 comment

Can you cook better than a 12th-grader?

This recipe honors the original one created by Richard Grausman, founder and chairman of C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), a non-profit that works with public schools in Arizona and six other locations nationwide. C-CAP prepares underserved high school students for college and career opportunities and awards millions of dollars for student scholarships and equipment for classrooms. This recipe is one of the final competition recipes, for which students must produce tournéed potatoes (similar to the shape of seven-sided footballs) and properly concasséd tomatoes (peeled, seeded, and rough chopped), along with demonstrating professional life skills (i.e. no chewing gum). While Chef Grausman’s recipe showcases the skill of a French culinary technique-trained cook, my adaptation uses a few leaner and accessible ingredients and short cuts for time-pressed home cooks.

Want to learn more? Watch the Pressure Cooker trailer (ccapinc.org), the Emmy Award-winning documentary that follows a C-CAP class in a rough school, where the teacher offers this advice: Work hard. Work the system. Get out of Northeast Philly.

Recipe: Hunter’s Chicken Breasts with Golden Potato Medallions

Adapted from ccapinc.org.

For sauce and chicken:

12 ounces (355 ml) organic or reduced sodium chicken broth

1 pound (455 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed, cut into 4 portions, pounded to even thickness and patted dry

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons expeller-pressed canola oil

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 (8-ounce) package crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced (2 3/4 cups, or 192 g)

2 medium shallots, minced (about 1/3 cup, or 53 g)

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 plum (Roma) tomatoes, seeded, diced 1/4 inch

1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon

2 tablespoons (8 g) chopped flat leaf parsley, plus extra for garnishing

1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon sherry vinegar (optional, or apple cider vinegar)

For potatoes:

2 cups (220 g) sliced golden potatoes (about 5 medium potatoes)

4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 pinch each salt and freshly ground black pepper

To prep sauce for chicken: Pour broth into a small saucepan and simmer on medium-low heat until reduced by half. Set aside.

To make potatoes: Place potatoes in shallow glass dish, add a large splash of water, and microwave for 6 minutes until nearly fork tender. Drain well and set aside.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet on medium-high and add canola oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add chicken, rounded side down, and brown, about 6 minutes. Move chicken to a plate.

Add 2 teaspoons olive oil and mushrooms to pan on medium heat and brown, about 6 minutes. Add shallots and sauté for 30 seconds on medium-low heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds more. Add a splash of water, broth, or wine to deglaze pan and remove to a plate.

Pour 2 teaspoons olive oil into pan and add potatoes to hot oil. Brown on both sides, adding 2 teaspoons oil after turning. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and arrange on serving plates.

Add the double strength chicken stock to pan and scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add the chicken, raw side down, mushroom mixture, tomatoes and tarragon and simmer for a few minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat, add parsley and swirl in butter and vinegar.

Top potatoes with chicken and sauce. Sprinkle with additional parsley.

Total Prep and Cook Time: 1 hour

Makes 4 servings, 1 piece chicken each (with 1/3 cup sauced vegetables)

Nutrition Facts (per serving): 384 calories, 12.5 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 471 mg sodium, 75 mg cholesterol, 37 g total carbohydrate, 3.5 g fiber, 29 g protein, 10% DV iron, 4% DV calcium, 13% DV Vitamin A, 51% DV Vitamin C.