Julia Child's Chicken Supremes with Mushrooms and Cream and Green Beans

Julia Child's Chicken Supremes with Mushrooms and Cream and Green Beans

Happy 100th Birthday Julia Child! I like to try and remember Julia's birthday every year because she had such a big influence in modern cooking. She changed the way Americans cooked and part of her legacy is bringing us cooking on television. So far I have made her Mustard Marinade with Pork and Casserole-Roasted Chicken with Tarragon. This year, I made a main course and a side from her recipes. The main course was her Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream (Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons), which was posted on the blog Sugar & Spice by Celeste. I had to make some adaptions based on limited cooking supplies, which I will write about in the recipe. I also made her perfect green beans from a recipe on The French Chef which I saw on youtube.

First, for the chicken, I made an adaptation because I didn't have an stove and oven-proof casserole. Therefore I used an oven-proof pan. I then also had to alter the recipe because the chicken breasts produced a lot of juice, and I found that I didn't need the broth or as much cream as the original. Not that omitting a little cream will keep this dish from being so rich. It's a Primal treat and low-carb delight, however. The richness helped me keep my portion down, by the way. I figured I'd want seconds because it was only a half breast, but this recipe is really satisfying. It would be perfect for dinner guests, too.

Finally, her green beans aren't tough to make. There are just some steps that help make them taste maximally good, such as cooking the beans in a lot of water so they have plenty of room to move. Also, they can come back to boil rapidly in the huge amount of water so they cook evenly.

One other adaptation that I was not happy about was I used dried parsley instead of fresh because the store didn't have any fresh. When I found out I was pretty surprised and wanted to say "it's Julia Child's birthday and you don't have any fresh parsley?!" but then I realized how it would make me sound like the crazy over-worked graduate student that I am and refrained.

Julia Child's Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream (Supremes de Volaille aux Champignons)

• 5 tbsp unsalted butter, preferably grass-fed
• 1 tbsp minced shallot or green onion
• 1/4 lb sliced mushrooms
• 2 chicken breasts, filleted (or supremed) into 4 pieces, preferably free-range
• 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white wine (port, Madeira, or dry white vermouth would work too)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• pinch of dried parsley or 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• lemon juice, salt, and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat the butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium heat.

2. Add the shallot and saute a moment without browning. Add the mushrooms and again saute without browning. Remove the shallots and mushrooms to the side, leaving some butter in the bottom of the pan.

3. While the vegetables cook, drizzle the chicken fillets with the lemon and add some salt and pepper.

4. Add the seasoned chicken fillets in a single layer in the buttered pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 12-15 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken to the side and tent with foil to keep warm.

5. Return the skillet the chicken was cooked in to a burner over high heat. Add the wine to the pan juices (should be about 1/3 cup of juices) and bring to a rapid boil, cooking the mixture down until it becomes syrupy. Add the cream, return to the boil and allow the sauce to slightly thicken. Season with the parsley and taste to see if more salt and pepper are needed. Sprinkle in more lemon juice, if desired.

6. Return the chicken to the pan and coat both sides with sauce. Serve immediately.

Servings per recipe: 4

Per serving:

Calories: 311.3

Fat: 26.2 g

Saturated fat: 16 g

Cholesterol: 113.9 mg

Sodium: 93.2 mg

Carbohydrate: 2.1 g

Fiber: 0.3 g

Sugars: 0.4 g

Protein: 15.1 g

Julia Child's Green Beans

1 lb haricots verts, or thin green beans, ends and strings removed and washed in hot water right before cooking

4 qts boiling water

2 tbsp unsalted butter, preferably grass-fed

lemon juice, salt, and pepper, to taste

pinch of parsley

1. Add the green beans to the rapidly boiling water. Boil for about 5 min, or until tender to your liking.

2. Drain the beans immediately once they are to your taste, and plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking process.

3. Allow the beans to become dry before seasoning by draining them thoroughly. I found them to dry quickly once I return them to the hot pan they were cooked in. Toss the dried beans in butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and parsley. You can garnish with more parsley before serving, if desired.

Servings per recipe: 4

Per serving:

Calories: 85.5

Fat: 5.9 g

Saturated fat: 3.6 g

Cholesterol: 15.5 g

Sodium: 46.3 g

Carbohydrate: 8 g

Fiber: 3.8 g

Sugars: 0 g

Protein: 2.1 g