Chicken Fricassee

Chicken fricassee is a dish from the Italian tradition, where the chicken is cooked in a creamy sauce based on eggs and lemon. Here’s how to prepare it:

Ingredients

• 1 chicken cut into pieces
• Flour, as needed to flour the chicken pieces
• 50 g butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Chicken broth, as needed
• 2 egg yolks
• The juice of 1 lemon
• Chopped parsley, as needed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Start by lightly flouring the chicken pieces.
2. Melt the butter together with the oil in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces until golden on all sides.
3. Add the chopped onion and let it soften, then cover the chicken pieces with hot broth just to cover them and cook covered over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and tender. If necessary, add more broth during cooking.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice.
5. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the pieces from the pan and keep them warm.
6. Gently add the egg and lemon mixture to the chicken cooking juices, stirring quickly over very low heat to create a creamy sauce without the egg curdling too much.
7. Adjust with salt and pepper, and return the chicken pieces to the pan to briefly reheat them in the sauce.
8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Trivia

Fricassee is a culinary technique used to cook pieces of white meat (chicken, rabbit, veal) with an egg and lemon sauce that makes the dish rich and creamy. The word “fricassea” derives from the French “fricassée”, which literally means “cut into pieces, minced”, emphasizing the preparation of the meat in pieces before cooking.