Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

When the opening sentence of a blog post is:

“I am drinking champagne alone, on a Monday night, in bed”

I know I am reading the words of a  kindred spirit.

So began Jenny’s blog post on Vincent Price’s Poularde Pavillon aka Chicken in Champagne Sauce.  I was therefore delighted to see that this was one of the recipes that Jenny had chosen for us to cook as part of the Vincent Price Cookalong.

So, if you’d read my last post you’d know I’d brunched like the King of the Grand Guignol himself on a Buckingham Eggs Jaffle.    A few hours later, on what turned into Vincent Price Sunday,  I was ready to take on the main event.  Here ’tis:

If my chicken looks a bit weird it’s because it was a butterflied one I had in the freezer.  It tasted lovely but just did not have the classic appearance of a normal roast chicken. The recipe calls for the chicken to be trussed and, in a moment of dumbarseness I got out my kitchen twine ready to do the necessary. Then paused.  How do you truss a chicken with no bones?  Short answer you don’t.

To tell the truth, I was a bit narky with this recipe when making it.  Basically because I am terribly lazy and Doctor Who was on the telly.  Walking the maybe ten steps from the couch to the oven (voice of the pedant – 9 steps) every 8 minutes to baste the chicken seemed like a bit of a palaver at the time.  In retrospect those 56 steps were utterly worth it. The chicken was beautifully tender and cooked to perfection. And the champagne sauce went perfectly with the sides of steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes.

The sauce, as also noted by Jenny is much more than what you need for the chicken.  She was going to try freezing hers.  I had mine over pasta with the leftover veg and some steamed broccoli and beans the following night and it was…..

Just kidding, it was deeeelicious.

The Chicken in Champagne Sauce was a lovely classic, and elegant, way to finish the weekend!  If the two recipes I have cooked are any reflection on the rest of the book, then I totally understand why Jenny sings its praises so highly.

So, although it is not Monday and I am not in bed, I am alone and drinking a little champagne toast to Jenny and, of course, to Vincent and Mary Price and their fabulous book. (And in an “it’s all about me”  side note, OMG!!!!!  You have no idea how long it took to get an even half way decent photo of me trying to concurrently do a wink like the little girl in my sign off logo and raise the champagne glass and take a selfie.  Half of them looked like I was heavily sedated on anti-pyschotics and the other half looked like I needed to be.  In the end I gave up and took a picture of the glass by my “movie star” mirror!

If your idea of a good time involves doing a bit more than poncing round your bedroom for HOURS looking more and more deranged with every click of the camera, there are a host of events to celebrate the release of the 50th edition of A Treasury of Great Recipes.  To find out the wheres and whens, click on the links below:

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Vincent Price’s Chicken in Champagne Sauce

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Ingredients

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For The Chicken

• 1 x 3lb chicken
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups dry French champagne

For The Sauce:

• 4 cups cream
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 mushrooms crushed with a bottle or rolling pin
• 1 sprig parsley chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• pinch of thyme
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 glass dry champagne

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Instructions

For The Chicken:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C / Gas mark 4.
2. Season the chicken with the salt.
3. Truss it and place in a small casserole with the butter and the two cups of Champagne.
4. Cook in a moderate oven about 45 minutes.
5. Baste every eight minutes and turn until the chicken is an even golden brown on all sides.
6. Remove chicken, cut off string and keep warm on a hot platter.

For The Sauce:

1. Add to the juices in the casserole the cream, shallots, mushrooms, parsley, bay leaves and thyme.
2. Simmer on top of stove until the sauce has reduced to two thirds of the original amount.
3. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
4. Place over a medium heat and swirl in the butter.
5. Add the glass of champagne

For The Presentation

1. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken. Serve the rest separately.
2. This recipe is originally from Le Pavillon in New York. To serve the chicken as per Le Pavillon take the chicken to the table whole and carve it there.

Have a great week!