Name: Chicken Suprême
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 30g butter; 30g flour; 500ml / 2 cups cold chicken stock (see note 1); 125ml / 1/2 cup double or heavy cream; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp olive oil; 4 chicken breasts (see note 2); 4 rashers streaky bacon; 1 medium onion, diced; 200g / 7oz mushrooms, sliced; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed; 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, stripped from stems

Question 1

What is it?

Accepted Answer

The suprême part of this recipe is referring to sauce suprême. This is a classic French 'daughter' sauce, which means it is made with one of the 5 French 'mother' sauces as a base - Velouté. Velouté is a simple sauce that translates to 'velvety' in French. It combines chicken stock with a roux (butter and flour combined to thicken a sauce - more information below). 

Suprême sauce simply adds cream and a little lemon juice to the Velouté. Et voila - you have a classic French sauce which is really not very difficult to make. 

I like to add skin-on chicken breasts, crispy bacon, thyme and mushrooms to the sauce. This also adds a little more colour making it look a little more rustic. You can certainly use skinless breasts or thighs instead and skip the bacon, mushrooms and thyme if you want a more authentic dish.

Question 2

How do I make a roux?

Accepted Answer

If you've never made a roux (pronounced "roo") before then it may sound a little intimidating but fear not! It's incredibly easy and the basis of many famous sauces such as Béchamel and Espagnole and it is also used to thicken gravy. A roux can be made with differing levels of darkness simply by cooking it for longer. For this recipe, we need a white roux, which only needs cooking for 2 minutes.

To make a roux you need to have equal measures (by weight, not volume) of flour and fat. You can use plain/all-purpose flour, and for the fat butter is a great option, although you can alternatively use vegetable oil, butter or ghee. 

Simply melt the butter in a saucepan and then once melted, reduce the heat slightly and add the flour. Use a wooden spoon or a whisk to combine everything and then constantly stir it until it comes together. Continue to cook for 2 minutes and then remove from the heat.

When using the roux, it is best to use a cold roux with a hot sauce or stock, or a hot roux with a cold sauce or stock. This will help it to mix together without lumps. You can then heat the sauce once fully incorporated.

The weights of flour and fat you need depend on how much sauce you are making or thickening, how thick you want the end result to be and how dark the roux you've used is (a lighter roux will thicken more efficiently than a darker one). For this sauce, I use 25g (0.9oz) each of flour and butter which is then mixed with 500ml (2 cups) of chicken stock.

Question 3

What can I serve it with?

Accepted Answer

You can serve chicken suprême with a variety of different sides. A bed of steamed rice is great to soak up the juicy sauce, or some steaming hot potatoes - mashed, roasted, baked... all work well. A side of veg also helps to round out the meal.

Question 4

Can I make it in advance?

Accepted Answer

You can make this dish in advance, however, for best results I recommend cooking the chicken just before serving to prevent it from drying out. The sauce keeps well for up to 3 days in the fridge but will thicken when chilled. It will loosen when reheated and you can add a little water if you want to thin it out even more. 

You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating and ideally reheat the chicken in the oven and the sauce on the hob/stove (although you can throw it all in a pan to reheat if short on time).

Chicken Suprême

Description

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition