Roasted Chicken with Cider Cream Sauce
Perfect for your Sunday meal, this dish features tender slow-cooked chicken, winter vegetables from the market, and a rich and delicious cider cream-sauce.
Part 1 - Mise-en-Place
Ingredients
Six fresh farm-raised chicken legs (drumstick and thighs)
3 tablespoons organic butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
Sea salt & pepper
8 slender carrots, scrubbed with tops on.
4 medium or small leeks, split lengthwise and rinsed well.
6 - 8 turnips
6-10 baby zucchinis
12 small potatoes - thin skin so that there is no need to peel
4 medium shallots
For the sauce:
2 cups fermented apple-cider
1 cup heavy cream
PART 2 - Method
Pat chicken legs dry, before sprinkling with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and butter in a sauteuse and brown the skin-on chicken legs until evenly golden. Arrange potatoes around the chicken parts drizzle with a small amount of oil and place in a 375F / 190C oven for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile in a layered steamer, arrange the washed winter vegetables and steam until done. The carrots and turnips take the longest and the zucchini will only take a few minutes. I always arrange them in groups in the steamer basket so that I can remove them as they are cooked through. Set the veggies aside on a platter. You will finish them in butter just before serving.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove the potatoes and set aside with the other vegetables. Place the chicken legs on a serving dish so that you can make the sauce from the pan juices.
PART 3 - finish and plating
Put the pan back on the heat and add the chopped shallots, then deglaze the pan with the cider. Cook for 5 minutes at a low boil to remove the bits and reduce the cider. Finish by adding in the cream and Herbes de Provence. Reduce to thicken as needed.
For plating, I like to layer the vegetables around the chicken before pouring over the sauce.
All of the perfectly steamed vegetables are tossed in a hot pan with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper before plating with the chicken.
Be sure to have a crusty baguette on hand to enjoy the sauce!
This post was a collaboration with Samsung Home Appliances who provided this stunning French-door style refrigerator to help make preparing a Sunday family meal even more effortless.
Learn to make dishes like this at Rabbit Hill Workshops
Our workshops bring you the best food that France has to offer, through visits to local markets and French cooking lessons in beautiful Normandy.
Get recipes like this delivered to your inbox
Sign up to our Notes from Rabbit Hill newsletter to receive a regular dose of French lifestyle notes, recipes and photography.