Jura-style chicken with morels, Vin Jaune and cream

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 4 chicken breasts, skin on if possible
• 20g dried morels
• 250ml boiling water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 150ml Vin Jaune
• 200ml chicken stock
• 200ml double cream
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 thyme sprigs
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Soak the morels

Put the dried morels into a bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave them to soak for 20–30 minutes until soft and rehydrated.

Lift them out carefully with a slotted spoon, then strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter, clean muslin or very fine sieve to remove any grit. Keep around 150ml of the liquid.

Morels are glorious things, but they do have an unfortunate habit of bringing a little forest floor with them.

2. Prepare the chicken

Pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper and season well with salt and black pepper.

Heat the olive oil and half the butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin-side down and cook for 5–6 minutes until deeply golden.

Turn and cook for another 2 minutes, then lift the chicken onto a plate. It will finish cooking in the sauce.

3. Soften the shallots

Turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining butter. Add the shallots with a small pinch of salt and cook for 4–5 minutes until soft and translucent.

Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute, just until fragrant.

4. Add the morels

Add the soaked morels to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring gently, until they have taken on a little colour and started absorbing the buttery shallot mixture.

5. Add the Vin Jaune

Pour in the Vin Jaune and let it bubble for 2–3 minutes, scraping up anything caught on the bottom of the pan.

Add the chicken stock, reserved morel soaking liquid, Dijon mustard and thyme.

Bring to a gentle simmer.

6. Finish the chicken

Return the chicken to the pan and cook gently for 10–15 minutes, depending on thickness, until completely cooked through.

Lift the chicken out and keep warm while you finish the sauce.

7. Add the cream

Pour the double cream into the pan and simmer gently for 5–7 minutes until the sauce has reduced and become silky and lightly thickened.

Taste and adjust with salt and black pepper. The sauce should be rich and nutty, with the Vin Jaune still clearly present rather than buried under the cream.

8. Bring it all together

Return the chicken to the pan for another minute or two so it is fully coated in the sauce and warmed through.

Remove the thyme stalks and stir in most of the parsley.

9. Serve

Spoon the sauce and morels onto warm plates and sit the chicken on top, finishing with the remaining parsley.

Serve with buttery mashed potatoes, pommes purée, tagliatelle or simply some good bread for making sure none of the sauce is left behind.

A couple of helpful notes
- Morels must be cooked before eating. Do not serve them raw or merely warmed through.
- Vin Jaune has a distinctive nutty, oxidative character, so it is worth using the real thing here if you can.
- If the sauce becomes too thick, loosen it with a small splash of stock or reserved morel soaking liquid.