A French classic that never seems to go out of style. And for good reason. When the days are shorter and the weather colder, nothing is more warming than Chicken Chasseur. It’s classy and elegant but also comforting and rustic. Hunter’s Chicken is French country cooking at its best. This recipe uses a whole French chicken, corn-fed to produce a magnificent golden colour and a wonderful depth to those natural chicken flavours. Roasted with mushrooms, tomatoes, Cognac and white wine to deliver juicy tender meat in a rich sauce with delicious earthy flavours. And it’s easy to make.

Ingredients

Feeds 4

Whole French corn-fed chicken, weighing approx. 1.5kg
50g plain flour
20g unsalted butter
20g rapeseed oil

BROWN CHICKEN STOCK

Chicken carcass, thigh bones, wings and giblets (if you have them), chopped into smaller pieces
10g rapeseed oil
50g carrot, roughly chopped
50g onion, roughly chopped
50g celery, roughly chopped
2 Marzano tomatoes; peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, quartered
10g tomato puree
1 bouquet garni; a sprig of thyme, parsley stalks, a bayleaf and a small piece of celery, all wrapped together in a sheet of leek tied with string
1L chicken stock; I use TRUEfoods

500ml thickened veal stock; I use Veal jus from TRUEfoods

CHASSEUR SAUCE

25g banana shallot, finely diced
150g button mushrooms, finely sliced
25ml Cognac
50ml dry white wine
500ml brown chicken stock
10g unsalted butter, cold cubes; keep in the fridge until needed
Tarragon leaves, picked and finely chopped
Parsley leaves, picked and finely chopped

ROOT VEGETABLES

600g Charlotte potatoes
500g carrots
12 Grelot or large spring onions; you can also use small onions for pickling, or round shallots
50g unsalted butter
Caster sugar

Method

Break down the chicken and make the brown chicken stock the day before.

CHICKEN PREP

1. Remove the string from the chicken.

2. Gently scorch the carcass to remove any “hairs”.

3. Cut away the Parson’s Nose and discard.

4. Remove the wishbone.

5. Cut the knuckles from the legs with a neat accurate cut using the heel of a large knife, about 1cm above the joint. Find and remove any shards of bone.

6. Cut off the wings, leaving the last section of the wings attached to the breasts to create suprèmes.

7. Remove the legs from the carcass keeping the oysters attached to the legs.

8. Remove the thigh bones from the legs and reserve for the stock. French trim the legs.

9. Cut each breast away from the carcass, keeping the wing bones attached to the breast meat. French trim the wing bones.

10. Arrange the chicken suprèmes and legs on a tray, cover with cling film and reserve in the fridge overnight.

11. Carefully chop the carcass into smaller pieces using a cleaver or shears.

BROWN CHICKEN STOCK

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Chop up the chicken carcass, wings, thigh bones and giblets, if you have them. Smaller pieces provide greater surface area to roast, which delivers more flavour.

3. Roughly chop the mirepoix vegetables. Torch or blanch the tomatoes for 10-12 seconds then peel away the skin. Remove the seeds and roughly chop. Prepare the bouquet garni.

4. Add the oil to a wide, shallow pan over a medium heat. Don’t use a non-stick pan. Add the chicken carcass pieces and begin to brown. Don’t stir. Once you can smell the chicken, transfer the pan to the hot oven.

5. When the chicken is evenly browned, after 30-40 minutes, degrease the pan. Strain the pan contents through a sieve to separate the fat from the meat. Carefully dab the hot pan using some kitchen paper to remove any remaining oil.

6. Place the pan over a low-medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, celery, tomato and cover with a lid. Steam will develop and after a few minutes will lift the crusty flavour-bombs from the bottom of the pan. Remove the lid and increase the heat to drive off any residual moisture. Add the smallest amount of chicken fat to the pan and brown the vegetables in the oven for 10 minutes or so.

7. Bring the pan back to the hob over a medium heat. Add the degreased chicken carcass pieces. Stir through the tomato puree and cook out for 3 minutes.

8. Deglaze the pan with half of the chicken stock.

9. Transfer the contents to a narrow deep saucepan. Add the remaining chicken stock, veal stock, and the bouquet garni.

10. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to an occasional blip. Cook for 2 hours skimming as often as possible.

11. Pass the stock through a damp folded muslin cloth. Don’t press it through. Rapidly cool to room temperature over an ice bath then place in the fridge overnight.

SAUCE PREP

1. The next morning scrape any fat from the surface of the stock. Reduce the stock over a high heat, skimming as you go, until you have around 600ml. Rapidly cool to room temperature and return once again to the fridge.

2. Wash the tarragon and parsley. Pick the leaves, place in a container with cold water. Reserve in the fridge.

3. Finely dice the shallot.

4. Wipe any dirt from the mushrooms. Remove the stalks. Finely slice the mushroom caps, cover and reserve in a cool place.

CHICKEN

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Remove the chicken quarters from the fridge an hour before cooking.

3. Heat the butter and oil in a straight-sided sauté pan. Meanwhile season the chicken quarters with salt and white pepper then lightly coat in flour.

4. Add the chicken quarters to the pan, skin-side down and gently brown for 5 minutes or so. Turn the pieces and brown the other side for a few minutes.

5. Cover the pan and finish cooking in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

6. Remove the chicken quarters from the pan and place on a rack over a tray. Keep in a warm place.

CHASSEUR SAUCE

1. Place the pan back over a medium-high heat.

2. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for a couple of minutes.

3. Strain off the mushrooms and set aside. Degrease the pan.

4. Now add the diced shallot and gently sweat.

5. Add the cooked mushrooms back to the pan.

6. Add the Cognac and flambé.

7. When the Cognac has cooked away, deglaze with the white wine. Let it reduce to nothing.

8. Add the brown chicken stock. Let it reduce for a few minutes.

9. Strain the herbs. Squeeze out any moisture between kitchen paper then finely chop.

10. Check the consistency and seasoning of the sauce.

11. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cold butter cubes.

12. Stir through half of the herbs.

13. Add the chicken quarters to the pan and baste with the hot sauce. Cover the pan with a lid and let the chicken warm through over a low heat. The sauce should not boil.

ROOT VEGETABLES

Prepare the vegetables to be approximately the same size.

1. Wash and peel the potatoes then cut into uniform pieces. I turned them, which is a classic French technique. Place into a saucepan, cover with cold water and season with salt. Bring slowly to a gentle simmer. When the potatoes are just about done, shock in iced water, and leave to dry on kitchen paper. Place in an airtight container and reserve in the fridge until needed.

2. Wash and peel the carrots then cut into uniform pieces. Or turn them as I did. Place the carrots in a saucepan. Add butter, a pinch of salt and sugar, and just enough cold water to barely cover. Over the top place a cartouche with a small hole at its centre to control evaporation. Bring to the boil over a medium-high heat. The goal is for the carrots to be perfectly cooked by the time the water has disappeared and have a lovely shine from the butter and sugar. Note: You can always add more water. And you don’t want the carrots to fry in the butter so listen carefully during the cooking–boiling sounds different to frying.

3. If using Grelot or salad onions as I did, wash first then cut the white bulbs from the green stalks. Peel and trim to be about the same size as the potatoes and carrots. Glaze in the same way as the carrots.

TO SERVE

1. Warm the plates.

2. Heat a little water and butter in a pan, swirling until emulsified. Add the potatoes and gently swirl so they become evenly coated. Leave to warm through. You don’t want them to colour.

3. Check the glazed carrots and onions are warm.

4. Just before plating, coat the chicken quarters in the pan evenly with sauce. Sprinkle over the remaining herbs.

5. Place a portion of chicken on each plate with the bone pointing inwards. Cover with sauce, sharing the mushrooms fairly. Add 3 potatoes, 3 carrots and 3 onions to each plate. Enjoy.