Herbed Chicken in Butter Wine Sauce

 

Never mind the sides, the Herbed Chicken in Butter Wine sauce is the star of the plate.  From the mellow wine and butter come together to make a cravable chicken cutlet that is moist and herbaceous from start to finish.  Potato au Gratin and sautéed corn finish of the place nicely.

I subscribe to the wine philosophy in cooking that you would drink.  Bottom shelf swill won't get better with cooking. I nearly always have a small bottle, called a "split" of Pinot Grigio handy.   It adds the right amount of acidity to make your pan sauce jump without the harshness of say...lemon or vinegar. Other reasonable dry white wines such as Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux Blanc or unoaked Chardonnay will work too. By all means if you don't do wine use chicken broth as a reasonable swap.

Herbed Chicken in Butter Wine Sauce

• 4 chicken breast cutlets (approx 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
• salt and pepper to taste
• scant cup of flour
• 6 T Butter
• 1/2 C Diced sweet onion
• 1 C Pinot Grigio
• 2 T minced Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
• 2 T minced Basil
• 2 T minced Mint

Season chicken cutlets and set aside.  Mix flour with some salt and pepper (to taste again).  

Preheat a skillet over medium heat with 4T (1/4 Cup, half stick) butter.  As butter starts to sizzle, dredge cutlet in flour and add to pan.  Do not shake off excess flour from cutlet as that little bit of flour will go to making your pan sauce later smooth and silky.  Repeat with all cutlets.  Brown 4-5 minutes until golden then flip chicken over and other side of cutlets.  Fry the cutlets an additional 2-3 minutes until browned.  Remove cutlets from pan and set aside on a plate.

Add remaining 2 T butter to skillet and add onion.  Whisk into butter, scraping up the brown bits from bottom of pan and cook 2-3 minutes until onions are tender.  Whisk in white wine and bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Whisking occasionally simmer 2-3 minutes until wine is reduced and the sauce has thickened a bit.  Test for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Add minced herbs, cook 1 minute until fragrant.  Add cutlets and any drippings to pan and turn to coat.  Simmer in sauce 1-2 minutes until warmed through.  

Serve cutlet with a healthy spoonful of the herbed pan sauce.