Baked Chicken with Cheese and Lemon Custard
- 4 chicken breasts, skin on, flatted to an even thickness with the flat edge of a meat tenderizer
- 3 tbsps butter
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups crumbled stale bread, crusts removed
- 1/3 cup dry white Languedoc wine
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground Timut or black pepper
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
- 3 ozs freshly grated gruyere cheese
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 tsp zested lemon rind
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
Sauté the salted chicken pieces in butter on medium heat on both sides for a total of 20 minutes. Be sure to brown the skin side. Transfer the breasts to a baking dish that snugly holds them all but has enough room for the custard. Crumble the stale bread into the hot oil in the chicken pan and fry them over medium heat until they are slight crisp and have a bit of color. Remove to a dish. Save the pan drippings. Pour in the dry wine and cook over medium heat until it is reduced by half. Turn off the heat. In a bowl whisk the cream, egg yolks, salt, pepper, and cheese. Then stir in the lemon juice, zest and pan drippings. Pour this over the chicken pieces. Cover with the bread crumbs. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes. Check at 15 minutes to make sure bread crumbs are not burning and if they are, cover with foil. Serve with a heavy garnish of chopped Italian parsley. This will be fabulous with the chenin blanc and grenache blanc grapes of the Cuvée Sixtine. Santé!!