25 Years Ago This Was The Only Dish Chefs Talked About

Chicken Florentine is one of those simple dishes you just remember. In school, it was everywhere. A la Florentine just sounded so sophisticated. But really, it's just spinach with a creamy, cheesy sauce. And today, I plan on keeping it super classic. But first, we gotta start with the sauce. Sound good? Let's cook. Bechamel is one of the five mother sauces and a must-know how to make for any serious cook out there. And I'm gonna start by peeling one whole shallot. And for a substitute, you can feel free to use a half-peeled red, white, yellow, or even a sweet onion, all work. Next, using a chef knife, I'm just gonna make an incision right into the middle of that shallot that's about one inch wide and about a half to one inch deep. This is just a little trick I learned in culinary school, but take one bay leaf and add it right to that little cut until it's secure. And then, press one clove right next to that bay leaf into the shallot. This is just so that things aren't floating around in the sauce and breaking up. I promise you would hate if that happened. Now, what we're gonna do is put it right in a three to four quart pot, along with four cups of whole milk. Yes, skim or even 2% will work, but whole milk is just better. Let's take that pot back over to the burner, and I'm gonna scald the milk over low to medium heat. And I'll show you how I know it's perfectly scalded. But first, we need to make a roux to help thicken this up. In a medium sized sauce pan, add in three tablespoons of unsalted butter and heat over low heat until it's melted. Then, whisk in four and a half tablespoons of all-purpose flour. And just an FYI, the most accurate way to make a roux is by always remembering it's equal parts weight, fat to flour. I'm only gonna cook this for a minute to maybe a minute and a half. We want it to remain at this stage, which is known as a white roux, to help keep our bechamel sauce perfectly consistent in color. All right, let's go have a check on that milk. I'm gonna tilt it back a little bit, and you see all these little bubbles collect at the bottom of the pan, and they kind of appear like they're almost sticking. This is how I know the milk has been scalded. Now, if you wanna know without a shadow of a doubt, just use a thermometer when it hits 180 degrees F, you're good. All right, at this point, let's add in the root of the pop. Gently whisk it in and then crank the heat up to hot. I wanna boil it. This will sort of activate the root. Once it's boiling, turn the heat down to low and cook it for about 10 to 12 minutes while occasionally whisking. Now, this'll be enough to get rid of any of that starchy, raw flour taste. All righty, it's done. And it smells really good already, and it's at that perfect consistency. And I will show you how in just one second. First though, let's finish it off with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, then a season of salt and ground white pepper. After it's mixed in, I'm just gonna strain it through a chinois or a fine mesh strainer will work great with this. And here's how I know it's perfect. Grab a spoon. The sauce will completely coat the back of it. And when I run my finger through the center, the sauce won't bleed into that finger streak. This is known as nappe. And congratulations, you've just made a mother sauce. This is the real deal, and this is what you should absolutely be making. So many people just use cream nowadays to make this. Don't get me wrong, I love cream, but then everything you are cooking just tastes like cream. It wasn't meant to be that. And don't you dare use cream cheese in this recipe either. Does bechamel take a little bit more time? Yes, but things like this always make meals worth remembering, always. All right, keep it over low heat for now. We're not done with the sauce yet, because now that we have this base, we're now going to turn it into more name. And it is so simple to make. I'm gonna grate four ounces of Gruyere cheese. And try not to eat it, you'll need all of it. But seriously, it's just so good. Then, finely grate two ounces of Parmigiano-Reggiano. And yes, I do this on parchment paper. I use parchment as much as possible. The pro kitchens just ruin me after 15 years. All right, let's bring this back over to that bechamel. I'm just gonna whisk in one handful of this cheese at a time, until it's completely combined and the sauce is silky and smooth. And you'll immediately notice how much more aromatic it gets when doing this. So good, I promise you can do this. Now let's turn off the heat. And of course, you have to try it. It's infinitely better than cream could ever dream of being. It's one of the first sauces I ever learned how to make. And that's what I love about this fundamental cooking. You learn these things and you can apply it to everything. And I'm just not a 30-minute meal guy. I probably won't ever be, but if you give me an hour, oh my gosh, we can make some awesome food. And this mornay goes great on veggies. It goes great on pork, fish, chicken, pasta, you name it. It's gonna be one of your new favorites, I promise you. Let's start on the chicken. I'm gonna be using two boneless, skinless chicken breasts that weigh about 12 to 14 ounces each. Then, paging Dr. Chef Parisi. Nice. All right, carefully slice the chicken breasts in half width-wise using a chef's knife. And I'm just gonna briefly set them to the side. And then, just going to give the cutting board and knife a quick bath because, well, raw chicken. Now I'm gonna coat this chicken up in a really simple breading in a cake tin, or honestly, a really shallow-wide bowl is fine for this. Just add in a half cup of all-purpose flour, and then about a third cup of finely grated parmesan. This stage, season it with salt and pepper, and just mix it until it's combined. Now you could give it a bit more if you wanted with about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning blend, and I've got a solid homemade recipe for this on my site at BillyParisi.com, but I don't think you need it. Well, honestly, second thought, maybe I do. It's just more flavor, so why not? Now what I'm going to do is just season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. And now it's time for dredging. Add one chicken breast at a time to that pan, and really press in all that goodness on each side. It'll just make it so much more flavorful. Now once it's done, set them to the side on a plate, and we'll let them sit for maybe just a few minutes, which will help everything stick to the chicken when we fry it, so this part is crucial. But in the meantime, two really quick things to miss out. Peel and small dice one shallot. Then smash and finely mince two whole garlic cloves. Now it's time to cook. I add in enough oil just to coat the bottom of a large stainless steel pan, and then the heat is going up to medium, medium high-ish. And after a minute or so of heating up, add in the chicken, and the goal is to sear them just to get some maillard on them, and until they are cooked through. Now don't crowd the pan, because we wanna sear, not steam these. After about three minutes or so, give them a flip, and yeah, that's what you want right there. Almost like a simple gratin-ay from searing the cheese onto the chicken, perfect. All right, just a few more minutes to go. All right, I've only got about 15 to 20 seconds until the chicken is done, so while we wait, here's the story of how Chicken Florentine came to be. Chicken Florentine, it goes back to the 1500s when Catherine de' Medici left Florence to marry into the French royal family. She didn't come empty-handed, though. She brought spinach seeds and her Florentine chefs with her. Now that's where the term a la Florentine comes from. It really just means a dish served over spinach and often finished in the French style with a veloute or mornay. It really is just a beautiful Italian-French hybrid recipe. All right, let's wrap this dish up, but first, let's remove the chicken and set it to the side on a plate. Now in that same pan, add in the shallots, then the garlic, and just a gentle seasoning of salt. And we're gonna saute this for maybe 20 to 30 seconds. It's going to cook quick, so you have to watch it. And once those edges are lightly browned like this, immediately in goes eight ounces of baby spinach and a season of salt for another very quick saute. And yeah, things seem a little out of control with all this spinach, but if you've ever cooked it before, you know this is going to completely reduce down. And once about half the spinach is wilted, I'm gonna deglaze with maybe a quarter to a third cup of dry white wine and any dry work. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, all are good. And everything is smelling so good right now, so now let's grab that mornay sauce and add all that goodness right to the pan and get all of it because that's gold right there. Now I'm just gonna fold everything together and taste it, see if it needs anything else. So good, that is the ticket right there. You're gonna love this. I can't ever encourage you enough to taste your food and do it at every single stage so you know what it's supposed to taste like at every single stage. That is how you absolutely get to that next level. In the restaurant industry, there are spoons everywhere because tasting is encouraged. Now this is just about wrapped up, but before you even ask me the question, well, what would this go good with? I've got a couple options for you. Here they are. In America, yes, you'll often see this served up with some pasta and tossed in a bit of that sauce, and it's fine, but not really anything classic, and you know me, I'm much more of a traditionalist. How about pommes beaux paire, or steamed buttered potatoes? First in a pot, add in enough water so that it's right below the bottom of the steamer basket, and then turn the heat down to medium and pop on a lid. While it heats up, I've got three pounds of baby potatoes, and any color is good to use, just as long as they're baby potatoes. Now instead of just steaming as is, use a peeler or a paring knife and just take a layer off the peeling right from the center. And I know, this really doesn't seem like much at all, but I remember I had a chef I used to work for, and he would tell me it's just a simple way for the guests to know that even a very simple potato touched a chef's hand with care. It's just to show some love to the guests that we want everything, even a steamed potato, to be delicious and look amazing. All right, once they're done, add the potatoes to the basket and pop on a lid and steam for anywhere between 20 and 25 minutes. And yeah, this takes a second, so if I was trying to time this dish out perfect, I'd have the potatoes meased out and added right to this pot before I start on the chicken. Now with about two minutes or so left on those potatoes, add four to five tablespoons of unsalted butter to a large pan over low heat. And once you start to see that butter melt, I'm just gonna swirl it around in a circular motion. The goal is to melt it while keeping the butter emulsified. This will help to flavor the potatoes and to coat them with perfection. All right, let's go have a look at those tatos, and yeah, they're done. And if you're not sure, just try one. You'll be good. And then add them right to the pan. And what I like to do is just continue to swirl everything around to get everything coated up. And then of course, a really good seasoning of salt and pepper. Now I usually like to finish these off with some thinly sliced fresh chives. Oh, I cannot wait to get into these. It's finally time to eat. But first, let's plate up everything. The potatoes into a bowl. Get all that butter on there. Oh, and maybe a few more chives. These are awesome. You're gonna love them. And now for the chicken. Right in the sauce is totally fine to serve up. Or if you want, you can add a little bit of sauce to the top. It is totally up to you. Now to finish this off with the perfect French dessert, chocolate mousse. I can already taste it. See you on that video. Don't even care. That is so... Dude, forget cream. You don't need it. Woo!