Many, many years ago I ordered this wonderful dish somewhere in New Orleans down in the French Quarter. But for the life of me I can’t remember if it was at Brennan’s, Antoine’s or where. What I DO remember is it was REAL good! This dish was made with a seared chicken breast, a rich brown mushroom wine sauce and a Bernaise sauce to top it off. The two sauces, much to my amazement, were very good together. Below is my version of Chicken Rochambeau. You have to do a little bit of a juggling act with lots of little pans going on your stove-top all at the same time, but I’ve streamlined the directions as much as possible for you. The end result of your juggling act is well worth it. As I don’t want my sides to have conflicting flavors that will compete with this delicate flavor synergy, I usually serve fairly simple vegetables with this. This dish is not suitable for Induction due to the bit of wine in the brown sauce. You could omit the wine and have the dish, however. Won’t be quite as good, but doable. This dish is suitable for Paleo-Primal if you leave out the wine. Although this dish is higher in calories than most of my recipes, a quick review of the macro-nutrients may outweigh the high-cal price you have to pay to enjoy this dish. Very impressive nutritional stats on this one.

INGREDIENTS:

2 5-oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 T. unsalted butter
1 tsp. olive oil
1 c. rich brown gravy (I used leftover gravy from a stewed beef roast)
¼ c. chopped parsley
¼ c. red wine (or rose will do)
Dash each salt and pepper
4 oz. canned mushrooms, drained (or sauteed fresh if you have them on hand)
1 c. Bernaise Sauce (see below)

DIRECTIONS: Make your Bernaise sauce and set on rear stove burner that is turned off. If it gets thick while waiting to do remaining steps, add a bit more butter and warm it up slightly on lowest heat possible, whisking constantly. You will have about ½ c. of the Bernaise sauce leftover, but it’s great warmed up with some butter the next day over scrambled eggs or a grilled steak! Butterfly the chicken breasts with a sharp knife. Heat butter and oil in non-stick skillet on high heat and saute chicken until golden on each side and thoroughly done (about 5-6 minutes on a side). While those are browning, in another non-stick skillet, add beef gravy, red wine, parsley, salt and pepper and the drained mushrooms. If you have fresh mushrooms on hand those sliced and sauteed in butter would be of course preferable to canned. I just don't always have them on hand and ALWAYS have canned. Bring the brown sauce to a light boil and then lower heat and simmer to reduce just a bit while you get the plates for plating. To plate, spoon about 1/2 c. of the brown sauce in a tidy puddle on the plate. Set a chicken breast on top. Finally, spoon about ¼ c. Bernaise sauce on the top down the center and serve your favorite vegetables alongside.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains:

786 calories
55.7 g fat
5.3 g carbs, 1.3 g fiber, 4 g NET CARBS
46.7 g protein
52% RDA Vitamin A, 59% B6, 52% B12, 27% C, 21% E, 25% copper, 62% iron, 20% magnesium, 10% manganese, 136% niacin, 54% phosphorous, 25% riboflavin, 86% selenium, 15% thiamin, 26% zinc

Bernaise Sauce

Bernaise is actually just Hollandaise sauce with a tarragon-vinegar reduction added. This sauce is Induction friendly, albeit a bit fat/calorie pricey. This amount of sauce is enough for 4 servings of eggs, or for fresh asparagus or a meat entree for 4 people. If any is leftover, I just cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to two days. It’s great on grilled beef, fish and chicken! It will keep a couple of days in the refrigerator. To reuse leftover Bernaise, just melt 1-2 T. butter in a pan and slowly add into the leftover Bernaise a bit at a time. Voilà, it’s smooth and warm for reusing!

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. red or white wine vinegar
¼ tsp. tarragon (or more to taste)
3 egg yolks
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 stick butter, unsalted

DIRECTIONS: This sauce goes together pretty fast, so you really have to have everything else ready before you begin. If you have to wait too long and it thickens, thin with a little butter and warm over lowest heat possible.

Now to start, add vinegar and tarragon to a small saucepan and over medium heat, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer to allow it to reduce to about 1-2 T. In another non-stick skillet over med-low heat, whisk the egg yolks with the splash (1 tsp) lemon juice and 1-2 T. of the butter until smooth. Whisking continuously, add the rest of the butter in small pats, whisking between each pat as it melts. When all butter is melted and smoothly incorporated, add the tarragon-vinegar mixture to the Hollandaise egg-butter mixture and stir well. Serve at once in whatever recipe you are using this for. If you like a thinner Bernaise, just add more melted butter and adjust the nutritional info to reflect that addition.