Chicken a la Fiorentina
Author: Pizza Today
Recipe type: Entree
This is the classic dish made ala minute on the line when I worked at Le Ciel Bleu in Chicago. It takes just one pan for everything and relies upon the flour, shallot and garlic as the heart of the sauce. A classic Mornay sauce would suffice but I think the Gruyère takes away the delicate nature of the spinach. I added crème fraiche and cream for a final boost of lusciousness which is cut by that final squirt of lemon.
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken breast (11 ounces)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Flour for dredging
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped fine
- 2 tablespoons fresh shallot, chopped fine
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley chopped
- 5 ounces fresh flat leaf spinach, stems removed
- ½ cup dry white wine or rose
- 4 tablespoons crème fraiche
- ½ cup half and half (or ¼ cup heavy cream)
- 3 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Spritz of lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts lengthwise between ⅛ to ¼ inch to produce 5 pieces or escalopes.
- Season each side well with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat.
- Dredge the escalopes in the flour and shake well before placing in the oil.
- Cook on each side for 3 to 4 minutes making sure the butter doesn’t burn.
- When the chicken has golden browned and cooked through, remove from the pan and turn up the heat to high.
- Add the garlic, shallot and parsley to the pan and stir for 30 seconds to start the cooking process.
- Add the wine and turn back down to medium-high heat while rubbing the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get all the nasty bits off the pan.
- Add 2 more tablespoons of the butter and reduce the mix by half or for 2 to 3 minutes, but not until too dry.
- Add the spinach, waiting for 15 seconds until turning the pile over and over to start a wilting process.
- Once the spinach has started to wilt, add the half-and-half, crème fraiche and the Parmigiano and stir all together. If you wish a more structured sauce, you may add more crème fraiche and/or cheese.
- Taste the spinach for salt and pepper, add the chicken back to the pan to heat up and turn the heat off.
- As soon as the chicken heats back up, plate by adding a little spinach on the bottom then layering the chicken like steps across the spinach.
- Then place one nice green stripe of spinach down the middle.
- Spritz with the lemon and add it to the plate.
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