Chicken fricassee with mushrooms

Fricassee is sometimes described as “halfway between a sauté and a stew”, sauté has no liquid added while a stew includes liquid. In a fricassee, cut-up meat is first sauteed , but not browned, and is then simmered in liquid.

English fricassees were usually thickened with egg yolks, like in this old recipe from countess of Ségur. She was a French writer who also cultivated good life style and eating well. The following recipe is my twist of her recipe in the French magazine ELLE. 

2 servings

2 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Olive oil

2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms, champignons de Paris

1 egg yolk

300 ml chicken stock

100 g heavy cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped parsley

Warm 2 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a heavy cocotte such as Le Creuset. Sauté the chicken for a few minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and some black pepper and continue sautéing for a while. Add the chicken stock, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Warm 2 tbsp . olive oil in a frying pan and cook the sliced mushrooms until golden brown. Set aside.

Remove the chicken from the cocotte and set aside. Increase the heat somewhat and reduce the chicken stock by half. Then reduce the heat again to low.

Whisk the egg yolk with the cream in a bowl and pour the mixture into the cocotte. Stir on a low heat. Add the chicken and mushrooms into the cocotte and stir.

Serve the fricassee over quinoa or brown rice and decorate with chopped parsley.