Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Nigella's Chicken with White Wine and Bacon Sauce

I was inspired by Jane's recent post to make Nigella's Chicken with White Wine and Bacon Sauce. Things were going well until I accidentally evaporated some of the sauce. To make up for it, I did a few variations:
  1. First of all, I had decided to add some garlic, rosemary, and thyme. This was pre-chopped and in a bowl waiting to be added in at the end.
  2. After my sauce had evaporated, I added another large splash of wine.
  3. While it looked good, I felt that it was a little to thin and lacking something... CREAM! As I didn't have any cream, I used a trustworthy stand-by: Cream Cheese. I added one LARGE spoonful of whipped cream cheese and whisked it all together.
  4. I then added the crumbled bacon to the saucepan, stirred, then returned the chicken to coat with the sauce.

It was really good. While it did have a slight yellow tinge, it is nowhere near as yellow as my photo. The color balance was off, and I can't be bothered to Photoshop it. The only complaint we had was the white wine I used. While it was good, it was a very floral/fruity wine and it needed something oakier to balance off the bacon. I used Ménage à Trois White, which would have been good without the bacon and with tarragon.

Here are a few things I might try adding in the future:

  • Mushrooms
  • Leeks
  • Mustard
  • Tarragon

As for the Butternut Squash (and this is more of a reminder for myself), I cooked it per the instructions in Nigella Express, only coating it in olive oil and then sprinkling it with sea salt, rosemary, thyme, and hot pepper flakes.

4 comments:

Jane King said...

Wow! I want to come to your house for tea! That looks really good. I had thought about adding cream myself to make it more substantial and it is easy to evaporate the wine!! Cream Cheese though that was just inspired! I am going to try that next time i make the chicken and bacon. Last night i made tex mex but cheated as got ribs ready made. also had nachos with melted cheese, chili on top with sour cream and salsa and some vegetable rice (that was a cheat out of a packet). The whole thing was a cheat as all came from a jar or packet :-) The best chilli sauce is one i have only just found : Knorr Sizzle and Stir. Its two jars you fry the beef with the first jar of spices and then add the second jar which is the sauce with kidney beans. Got my memory card for my camera so am snapping like mad and will download at the weekend :-)

Jane King said...

PS Nigella was on last night she made pork chops with cream, cider and mustard sauce. I have made it, its really nice but hers looked nothing like mine!!

Amy J said...

That is exactly what I'm making for dinner tonight! The pork chops with cream, cider and mustard sauce. I've never made it so am looking forward to trying it. I almost completely evaporated the sauce, so must have had the heat way too high. Am looking forward to seeing your photos!!!

Amy J said...

Forgot to say, it was really good with the cream cheese. I came up with that a month of so ago when I making something and forgot to buy cream. Out of desparation, I starting looking in the fridge and thought "why not". It melts so nicely and gives such a nice texture. You just have to really stir up to get it to break up into the sauce. It was you saying the Carbonara without cream that made me think of that as a save. My sauce had evaporated into nothing. We really liked it in the end, but just had the wrong wine, not that that stopped up from eating it!