French Dijon Chicken With Courgette And Cheddar Soda Bread
Comforting and healthy, this Dijon Chicken is perfect for a low-fuss midweek dinner.
Don your apron Nigella, because you’re about to bask in loads of complementary ooohs and ahhhs.
Fresh bread, while delicious, can be a bit of a hack to make when you are pressed for time. Not this one! This show stopping and wholesome family meal of freshly baked courgette and cheddar quick bread and a lovely creamy French Dijon Chicken comes together in just over an hour. As the chicken and bread come together with 10 ingredients respectively, this dish is a great trick up your sleeve when you are looking throw down like a domestic goddess. Minimal washing up, maximum impact, and loved by kids and adults alike.
The cook along for the recipes can be found on my highlights under French Dijon Chicken and Soda Bread.
Arm yourself with a sharp pair of kitchen scissors and head over to my Cooking Fundamentals highlight on instagram,(@The_Culinary_Cartel) where I demystify breaking down a whole chicken (it’s easy I promise). You can of course buy chicken pieces, but a whole chicken is incredibly economical allowing you choose higher quality meat and get more bang for your buck. Try opt for a chicken from a local farmer with sustainable farming practices.
Save the chicken carcass’ and extra bones in the freezer and whip up a batch of deliciously nourishing, collagen laden bone broth when you have the time – your soon to be glowing skin will thank you!
If you try this recipe, let us know how it goes! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag your photo #theculinarycartel on Instagram so we can see what you come up with. Happy cooking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this ahead of time?
This dish is ideally eaten straight from the oven when the chicken skin is nice and crispy.
Cooked and cooled French Dijon Chicken can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days. Once ready to serve reheat the dish with the lid on, or covered in foil to keep the chicken from drying out.
Can I freeze this dish?
Cooked chicken tends to get an unpleasant mouthfeel once it has been frozen. Try avoid this if possible
Can I skip making the Courgette & Cheddar Soda Bread?
My easy quick bread is a real winner alongside this dish, but if you run short on time serve the chicken with a shop bought loaf.
What can I serve alongside the chicken?
A nice salad, dressed leaves, mash or sauted veggies would all compliment this dish well.
French Dijon Chicken With Courgette And Cheddar Soda Bread
- Total Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Description
Comforting and healthy, this Dijon Chicken is perfect for a low-fuss midweek dinner.
Ingredients
For The French Chicken
- 1 whole chicken, broken down into 10 pieces, or 4 legs and 4 thighs
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp double thick cream/creme fraiche
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 Tbsp capers (optional, but recommended)
- 1–2 Tbsp juice, and 1 Tbsp zest
- chopped parsley to garnish
- salt, pepper and oil as required
For the Bread
- 125g whole wheat flour
- 100g cake flour
- 25g rolled oats
- 4g bicarbonate soda
- 4g salt
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 200ml buttermilk
- 140g courgette, grated
- 60g mature Cheddar cheese – Emmental, Gouda, Parm and Boerenkaas also work great! Or use a mix of cheeses
- 15ml of milk for glazing
- 1 Tbsp melted butter
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 200C on the fan setting.
- Start by making your bread. Place your courgette into a clean tea towel. Gather the corners together and squeeze out as much of the water in the courgette as you can, you should be left with roughly 115g of squeezed courgette. Don’t skip this step as we don’t want this excess liquid seeping into our bread when baking.
- To a large bowl, add your flours, salt, oats and bicarb, squeezed courgette, honey, buttermilk and cheese (keep a small amount back, about 2 Tbsp, to top your bread). Mix everything together until just combined, with no streaks of flour remaining. The trick to this bread is to mix it as little as possible, as you would with scone dough, as over-mixing can lead to it being heavy and doughy once baked.
- Turn the dough out onto a cookie tray, lined with baking paper or a silicone mat. Shape the dough into a round, and flatten it slightly. Brush the dough with your milk and sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Pop the bread into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes. If the cheese starts to get too brown too early, simply cover the bread with some foil.
- While the bread bakes, place an oven-safe pan or Le Creuset-style casserole onto a high heat. Add a drizzle of oil and brown your chicken pieces on all sides, until the skin is golden. Set the chicken pieces aside, as they will finish cooking in the oven.
- To the same pan (don’t clean it we want all those lovely chicken juices) add your onions and cook on medium-high, until they soften and turn golden brown. Once the onions are golden, add the mustard, capers, cream, lemon zest juice and stock. Stir everything together, then add the bone-in chicken pieces back in, skin side up (so it can get super crisp). If using a whole, broken down chicken, we add the bone-in pieces first, as they take a little longer to cook.
- Pop the chicken uncovered into the oven to cook for 20 minutes, then add the chicken breast pieces in and cook for 15-20 minutes more, or until the chicken is crispy and cooked through. The time will vary slightly, depending on the size of your chicken pieces.
- Remove the bread from the oven, and while still hot brush the bread with the melted butter. Set aside to cool slightly (making it easier to slice), while the chicken finishes cooking.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and serve it in the casserole, alongside the soda bread.
- Slice off thick chunks of fresh bread to dip into your lovely french mustard sauce and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 1 Hour
- Category: Mains
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: French-inspired
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Pan
- Calories: 3836.12kcal
- Sugar: 45.47g
- Sodium: 4183.56mg
- Fat: 214.26g
- Saturated Fat: 152.17g
- Unsaturated Fat: 104.9g
- Trans Fat: 1.13g
- Carbohydrates: 250.44g
- Fiber: 25.12g
- Protein: 236.47g
- Cholesterol: 956.66mg
