Name: Date-stuffed breast of chicken with Madeira sauce
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 90 ml (3 fl oz) cream, optional; 250 g (8 oz) French shallots, thinly sliced; fresh chervil or parsley, to garnish; 200 ml (6½ fl oz) Madeira wine; 500 ml (16 fl oz) chicken stock; 30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter or 1½ tablespoons oil; 75 g (2½ oz) shelled pistachios, skinned and roughly chopped; 4 chicken breasts with skin on (see Chef’s tip); 60 g (2 oz) French shallots, finely chopped; 85 g (2¾ oz) stoned dates; 30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr 35

Appears in

Christmas

By Le Cordon Bleu

Published 1999

About

Relatively quick to prepare, this dish would make a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner. The date and pistachio stuffing and rich Madeira sauce prevent the chicken breast from drying out.

Ingredients

Date Stuffing

30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
60 g (2

Method

To make the date stuffing, heat the butter in a small pan and cook the shallots over low heat for 4 minutes, or until soft but not coloured. Finely chop all but three of the dates. Remove the shallots from the heat and stir in the chopped dates and pistachios, then set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to moderate