Racine, a much-loved French restaurant in west London headed up by chef Henry Harris, closed in 2015, later reopening under a new iteration.
But for restaurant critic Jay Rayner one very special dish always stood out – rabbit in a mustard sauce.
He has taken inspiration from the French classic for this chicken version.
Chicken in a mustard sauce
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced into rings
6–8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
200g smoked bacon lardons
2tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and ground black pepper
A couple of knobs of butter
Half a dozen fat cloves of garlic (optional)
400ml chicken stock from cube
100ml double cream
Dijon mustard
Method
1. Heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. You’re going to roast these chicken thighs hot and fast.
2. Put the sliced onion across the bottom of an oven pan. Place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up. Chuck the lardons over and around them. Dribble on a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, season liberally with salt and pepper and add 2 good knobs of butter. Throw in the cloves of garlic. They aren’t important to the recipe. I just can’t resist the opportunity to roast garlic with chicken thighs. They go soft and mellow and squidgy and can be eaten whole.
3. Roast the chicken thighs in the oven for around 45 minutes, and certainly until the skin is crisp. Baste them every 15 minutes or so. About halfway through the cooking, give them 10 minutes skin side down so the backs also crisp up. Then turn back skin side up for another 10 minutes so the skin is really crisp.
4. While the chicken is roasting, warm a serving dish which is big enough and has high-enough sides to strain the sauce.
5. When the thighs are done, take them out of the pan, shaking off any caramelised rings of onion or lardons. Put the chicken in the serving dish to rest. It will not get cold and will benefit hugely from the 15 minutes or so rest it will take to make the sauce.
6. The pan will have lots of fabulous juices in it. Put it on a medium heat, and pour in the stock from cube, scraping up everything from the bottom of the pan. Let it bubble away and reduce a little for 5 minutes.
7. Pour in the double cream and whisk to incorporate into the stock. Let it simmer and thicken further (but don’t let it boil).
8. Whisk in a good tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Taste. (Always taste.) If you think it can take more, add a teaspoon at a time. Dijon mustard is a very good emulsifier and it will bring the whole thing together.
9. Once it has thickened enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon, pour everything in the tray over the chicken thighs.
10. Serve with rice, or crusty bread and a sharp green salad. Pretend you’re a rustic French farmer.
Nights Out At Home by Jay Rayner is published in hardback by Penguin. Available September 5th
