May I suggest this one-pan chicken in lemon cream sauce for tonight’s dinner?

It might seem a bit on the heavy and rich side, and you might be wondering why the heck anyone would cook this in this sweltering heat. Well, the EXIF data on the photos say the dish was cooked on June 12, 2021 and since June is usually the beginning of the monsoon season, we likely had this chicken dish on a rainy evening. I’ve published this recipe before, pulled it out and I am merely re-sharing it.

Okay, so… When did I discover the joys of cooking meat in cream? I really can’t recall exactly but I do remember when I first encountered the wonders of cooking pork in milk. I was in high school, my father just brought home our first ever pressure cooker, the brand was SEB and it came with a cookbook of French dishes that could be cooked in it. I was unfamiliar with many of the ingredients and there was only one recipe that I found doable — pork chops cooked in milk.

The cookbook that came with the French-made pressure cooker didn’t exactly turn me into a doyen of French cooking. When I opened the cooker, I found that the milk had curdled and the appearance of the cooked dish was not exactly something to drool over. It was ugly, to be honest. But one bite of the pork chop convinced me that it was worth re-doing the dish until I had perfected it. The meat was simply sublime.

That was ages ago. I have graduated from milk to cream and, these days, pork chops aren’t the only thing we braise in dairy. We cook chicken in cream too. And we have discovered that spiking the subtly sweet cream with a little lemon juice improves the flavor of the dish even more.

You don’t need a pressure cooker to make this dish. Chicken doesn’t take long to cook and using a pressure cooker is just plain overkill. Just get a heavy and thick-bottomed frying pan. Melt butter in it then lay the chicken pieces skin side down. Wait until the skins are nicely browned before flipping them over to brown the other sides.

With the chicken already three-quarters cooked, you don’t need too much liquid for the chicken to finish cooking in. You just need enough to almost cover the chicken. The exact amount will vary on the size and weight of your chicken pieces but, as a rough guide, I only pour in enough so that the nicely browned chicken skins are left exposed.

For added flavor and aroma, a few sprigs of tarragon are dropped in before the braising begins. And here’s the trick to prevent or at least minimize curdling. Keep the heat low and braise the chicken with the pan uncovered.

With the chicken done and the sauce reduced by half, lemon juice is drizzled in and lemon wedges are thrown in for more tang and better aroma. And the final garnish? Lemon pepper seasoning sprinkled directly over the chicken. Serve with rice or bread or noodles. Enjoy!