Chicken with Whole Grain Mustard Cream Sauce
This recipe comes from Chef Jim Ruch, a boat chef from Florida who travels all over the world cooking on various size yachts for all sorts of interesting people. We met online when he asked me to help promote his cooking DVD, One Pan Wonder.
This recipe is very versatile. You can create new versions just by changing some of the ingredients while using the same cooking technique. I found I had to reduce the amount of crushed red pepper to make it edible for me, and if it was up to my wife I would have left it out all together.
UPDATE – A reader sent a comment saying the 3 tablespoons of mustard were too much so I’m suggesting you start with 2 tablespoons, taste and adjust. Just like hot pepper, some people like more and some like less so adapt this and every recipe to your own preferences.
Chicken with Whole Grain Mustard Cream Sauce
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 4 chicken breasts about 8 ounces each
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- ½ tablespoon crushed red pepper more if you like it more spicy
- 3 tablespoons fresh picked thyme
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3 cloves garlic
- olive oil extra virgin
To Finish
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 - 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard to taste
- 1 cup white wine
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Combine the coriander, red pepper, thyme and sea salt in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Grate the garlic into the bowl and add 3 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix altogether.
- Add the chicken and toss with your hands to cover with the marinate.
- Add 1 tablespoon of thyme leaves, toss and transfer to a sealed container or zip lock bag to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
To Finish
- 30 minutes before cooking, remove the chicken from the fridge and finely dice the onion.
- Pre-heat your saute pan to medium high. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the hot pan. Make sure the pan surface is completely coated by tilting the pan back and forth. When the pan starts to smoke just a little bit, it is ready.
- Carefully add the chicken to the pan and lower the heat to medium. Because this is a cream sauce, you don't want to sear the meat too dark or caramelize the onions too brown. This prevents the drippings from giving the sauce too dark a color.
- Saute the chicken 2 minutes per side until golden brown and transfer to a plate. Discard any excess oil in the pan leaving just a little to cook the onions.
- Add the onions and 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves and cook gently until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add ½ cup of white wine and using a wooden spoon or wooden spatula, scrape any drippings stuck to the pan. (Deglazing) Reduce this liquid to a syrup and add another ½ cup of wine. Reduce the additional wine to an essence and add ½ the heavy cream. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the cream and onions until reduced by half.
- Add the remaining ½ cup of cream and the whole grain mustard. Using your wooden spoon, stir until the sauce is completely incorporated.
- Add your remaining fresh thyme leaves.
- Adjust the seasonings, add the chicken and any accumulated juices back to the pan and cover.
- Simmer, turning once until completely cooked.
I cant wait to try this recipe, Im going to give your page to my son and daughter both of whom love food and cooking, cant wait thank you for this blog
Thank You for this wonderful site and for this recipe, it sounds so good! One question though from someone who is always either over cooking or under cooking chicken — when you simmer the chicken in the sauce until completely cooked, how long is that exactly? 10, 20, 30 minutes?
I just made this recipe and I LOVE it! Even my coworkers are asking for the recipe.
I cut my chicken breasts in half (length wise, so they are thinner) and marinated them in juice from a meyer lemon (it’s a sweeter veriety). The lemon compliments the mustard flavor well. I put each piece in the butter for about 10 minutes on each side– basically just until they were white through and through and they had slightly borwned on each side.
Tricia, how long it takes depends on your pan, stove and the temperature you are cooking it at.
Because you already sauteed the chicken breasts, it should take that long in the sauces. I would say 5 to 10 minutes but here is where you want you have and use an instant thermometer to bring it to the right internal temperature.
Our finicky teens keep asking me to do this one fairly frequently. The recipe is right on. Thanks
I love your blog. Have a question — I frequently make coq au vin and of course saute the chicken. sometimes I make the dish in advance and reheat it just before serving. I find that the chicken dries out. Same holds true with a tagine that I make. Why does that happen and how do I avoid it?
Not seeing your recipe and knowing your cooking technique, it’s hard to say but I’m guessing it has to do with the cut of chicken you are using. If you are cooking with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, they are more likely to dry out. I made a chicken dish in the crock pot the other night with legs and thighs, cooked it all day and the meat was tender but not dry.
I made this dish last night and it was fantastic. I emailed it to a few friends that love to cook and will make it again in a few weeks when i am having friends for dinner. The only thing i did different is leave out the red pepper flakes, I don’t like the taste of them. This was my first time on this site but i am eager to try some other recipes. Thank you
Tara
You are welcome and thank you for telling some of your friends about the site. – RG
Is there a healthier substitute for the cream that would work well?
Hi Murray, I think cream is a healthy ingredient in moderation but if I wanted to make it lighter, I guess you could try half and half or one of those cream substitutes but if you are trying to loose weight for health reasons, I would either skip this recipe or just eat a smaller portion. You could also experiment with using less cream and see how it come out too. – RG
We ended up adding mushrooms which was a great idea! But 3 tablespoons of whole grain mustard was WAY too much. It was extremely overpowering and we couldnt eat all of it. We do live in th Uk though so is there a chance the mustard whole grain mustard here is stronger? Either way we thought that the dish would be brilliant with only a small amount of mustard and less thyme.
Great idea adding mushrooms and I wonder if it could be your mustard is stronger but I’ll go back and adjust my recipe so people can add more or less based on their tastes. Thanks for sharing.