Chicken Smothered in Onion and Mustard Sauce

Chilly, rainy days are still with us so hearty, warming meals are what’s on our table. This main dish comes together fairly quickly for a weeknight but can also be presented for a celebratory table.  (Especially if you add a few sprigs or slices of parsley or chives, which I forgot until I saw them on the kitchen counter – after I disassembled my photo set up!)

There are several great cooks in my circle, and we often share recipes we find especially worthy. This happened a few months ago when my friend, Ginger, raved about Grace Parisi’s, Food & Wine, recipe for pork tenderloin smothered in onion and mustard.

Ginger highly recommended including the dill and served it with buttered noodles, having recently returned from touring Christmas markets in Amsterdam. She was missing the foods of the region!

The first friend inspired by the recipe improvised using lamb. As she’s British, she paired the lamb with boiled potatoes and loved the onion-mustard sauce over both. I was next to give it a whirl, but only had chicken thighs on hand at the time.

Since then, I’ve also made it as written, with pork tenderloin, and it’s darn tasty. But I almost always have chicken thighs on hand, so that’s been my go-to with the onion-mustard sauce. I would not be a fan of using chicken breasts, but if that’s your preference, by all means you do you.

Salmon or other firm fish would be a natural pairing with this tasty sauce. Well, you get the idea for what might go well with onions and mustard.

Fortunately purple potatoes have been available at our farmers market, so that’s what you’re seeing as the accompaniment to our recent meal. I did a 50:50 mix of the purple potatoes and russet potatoes for this mash; the purple for the lovely hue and the russets for fluffy texture.

Chicken Smothered in Chicken and Mustard Sauce

Adapted from Grace Parisi, Food & Wine, March 2017

5 from 1 vote

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Servings 4 -ish

Ingredients

  

• 1.5 pounds chicken thighs skinless and boneless, each piece cut in half into about 1.5"- 2" pieces
• 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour plus more for dusting the chicken
• Dash paprika
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil extra-virgin
• 1 large white onion halved stem to root, then sliced crosswise very thinly
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 1 cup chicken stock low sodium (I use "Better than Bouillon" for convenience if I don't have homemade or want to open a quart-sized container of prepared stock.)

Instructions

 

• Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour on both sides. Sprinkle a few dashes of paprika on the “top” side for a bit of additional color.
• In a 10” – 12” deep skillet, melt the butter with the oliveoil over medium-high heat. Add the pieces of chicken, “top” side with paprika down first. Brown slightly, then turn to brown the other side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. (Cooking will be completed in the mustard sauce.)
• Add the onion to the same skillet and cook over medium-high heat, scraping up any browned bits from the chicken and stirring occasionally until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the 1 teaspoon of flour and stir for about a minute, then add the mustard and chicken broth. Bring to a slow boil.
• Add the chicken pieces back to the skillet, nestling in amongst the onions. Cover and simmer over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.