Chicken with Creamy Herb Sauce
I started hosting dinner parties for my friends when I was in high school. I immediately fell in love with the process: creating a menu, writing my shopping list, prepping the ingredients, making the meal, and enjoying it with the important people in my life.
If being a personal chef doesn’t pan out, I’ll settle for having my own catering business for private parties. The photo shoot I did with Joseph Yetman Photography this summer was a sample menu for catering. It included chicken with a creamy herb sauce, green beans that were sauteed with garlic in olive oil, a mushroom and quinoa side dish, and finished with the gorgeous chocolate raspberry ricotta cake.
In case chicken doesn’t tickle your fancy, other menus I’ve made include cheesy baked tortellini; I have thrown a dessert party that included nutella wontons and white chocolate cups filled with chocolate mouse; pumpkin lasagna (it’s delicious, trust me); a Mother’s Day brunch with baked egg boats (think egg bake made it French bread), fruit salad and lemon curd cheesecake (and of course Bloody Mary’s); and Hawaiian turkey burgers with pepper jack cheese and grilled pineapple. And if none of those meals sound good, I am sure we could figure out something else!
Now, on to that chicken with creamy herb sauce. It is so simple to make, and the sauce? Oh my goodness the sauce. I could have drunk that sauce from a glass and called it a day! Sometimes it is fun to cook extravagant, complicated recipes. Other times it is wonderful to make a dish like this which seems difficult, but couldn’t be easier to make. 
I made the chicken using the method I described for my chicken wild rice soup. Once the chicken was done baking, I took it out of the pan to rest and made the sauce in the same dish. The main ingredient in the sauce is spreadable cheese, which doesn’t sound that appetizing, right? But it makes the sauce so delicious! I used Boursin Shallot & Chive, and there is also a Garlic & Fine Herb that would work as well. Using the same pan that the chicken is baked in captures all the great flavors you get from browning the chicken before baking it.
So what are you waiting for? Give this dish a try – OR – have me come make it for your next dinner party!
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 large shallot minced
- 5 oz spreadable herb cheese such as Boursin or Laughing Cow
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fresh tarragon chopped
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in an oven proof dish (such as a dutch oven).
- Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Once oil is hot, brown chicken breasts on both sides (2-3 minutes per side).
- Bake chicken for 35 minutes. Once chicken is cooked through, remove to a plate to rest while the sauce is made.
- Place the pan that the chicken was cooked in on the stove top over medium heat.
- Add more oil, if needed, and saute the shallots until they are slightly softened, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the herb cheese, chicken broth and lemon juice. Stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is creamy.
- Spoon sauce over the cooked chicken, garnish with the fresh herbs.
**Cardinal Rule** If you are not a fan of tarragon, you can substitute fresh chopped parsley or chives.
Recipe inspired by: Delicious Recipe Pins