Creamy Mustard Chicken with Mash

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts, trimmed
• 2 tbsp plain flour, for dusting
• 25g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 150ml chicken stock
• 150ml double cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• sea salt & black pepper, to taste
• 800g potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 100ml milk, warmed
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Buttered mashed potato, to serve
• Steamed tenderstem broccoli, to serve
• Crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Get the mash going first. Drop the potatoes into cold, well-salted water, bring to the boil and simmer until a knife slides through with no resistance, 15–18 minutes. Drain, then return to the hot pan for a minute off the heat to steam dry — wet potatoes make gluey mash.
2. While the potatoes cook, pat the chicken breasts thoroughly dry — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Season generously with salt and pepper on both sides, then dust lightly with the flour and shake off the excess.
3. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high until the butter is foaming. Lay the chicken in the pan in a single layer with space between each piece — if your pan won't take all four comfortably, do it in two batches. Crowd the pan and they'll steam grey instead of browning. Fry undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until deeply golden, flip, and cook another 3–4 minutes until just cooked through. Lift onto a plate and keep warm.
4. Drop the heat to medium-low. Add the shallots to the pan and cook slowly in the chicken fat until soft, sweet and translucent, about 4 minutes — you want them yielding, not coloured.
5. Pour in the chicken stock and scrape up every brown stuck bit from the base with a wooden spoon. That fond is where the flavour lives. Let it bubble down by half, about 2 minutes.
6. Stir in the Dijon and the double cream and simmer gently for 3–4 minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and leaves a clean line when you draw a finger through it. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice — it lifts the cream and sharpens the mustard. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now, not at the table.
7. Mash the potatoes with the warmed milk and butter until silky and lump-free. Season generously and taste — under-seasoned mash drags the whole plate down.
8. Slide the chicken back into the sauce for a minute to reheat and glaze, spooning sauce over the top.
9. Plate a generous scoop of mash, sit the chicken on top with plenty of sauce spooned over, and lay the steamed tenderstem broccoli alongside. Scatter the parsley across chicken and mash, tuck a lemon wedge on the side, and put the crusty bread on the table for mopping.