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In this video, Chef John shows you how to make his delicious Chicken Florentine—a classic dish that combines tender chicken breasts with a creamy spinach sauce. This easy-to-follow recipe creates a rich, flavorful meal perfect for a cozy dinner.
Transcript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Chicken Florentine.
00:08That's right, when I got to culinary school, I learned that any dish that had a lot of
00:12spinach in it was referred to as a Florentine.
00:16And I forget why, but I think it had something to do with the Dometicis.
00:19I mean, what doesn't?
00:21But anyway, if you love chicken or spinach, I really do think you're going to love this.
00:26And to get started, we're going to wilt an entire pound of spinach in a pot set over
00:30medium-high heat.
00:32And besides the spinach, what we'll need is absolutely nothing.
00:36And as soon as we hear a little bit of sizzling, and we notice a little bit of steam, we can
00:40take some tongs and get to tossing.
00:43And we will keep tossing for the next minute or so, or until our spinach wilts down and
00:47turns bright green.
00:49And just as soon as that happens, and our spinach looks like this, we will stop.
00:54And we will quickly and carefully transfer that into a strainer, where we will let it
00:58drain, giving it a few squeezes with the tongs to help that out.
01:03And by the way, if our spinach retains a little bit of water, that's fine.
01:06Okay, you can, if you want, really squeeze this out dry in a towel, but for this recipe,
01:10it's not really necessary.
01:12And then what we'll do is transfer that onto a cutting board.
01:15And then we'll give that a chop, chop, chop, a chop, chop, chop, a chop, chop, chop, followed
01:21by finally a chop, chop, chop, chop.
01:24And that's it in just a couple short, easy minutes.
01:27Our spinach prep is done.
01:29And once that's set, we can move on to the seasoning of the chicken.
01:33And for this, I'm going to use a couple nice, large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts,
01:36which I'm going to season very generously with a combination of kosher salt, freshly
01:40ground black pepper, and cayenne.
01:43And once we have that first side seasoned, we will sprinkle over enough all-purpose flour
01:47to cover the top.
01:49And once we have that thoroughly and thoughtfully applied, we will flip these breasts over and
01:53do the exact same thing to the other side.
01:56And while the seasoning part is not optional, coating these chicken breasts in flour is.
02:01We can pan sear these without the flour, but I really think it's an advantage to develop
02:05some kind of nice crust on the chicken, which the flour really helps us do, especially since
02:11there's no skin on the breasts, which, as you know, is the tastiest and crustiest part
02:15of a seared chicken breast.
02:17But anyway, suit yourself.
02:18I mean, you are, after all, the Ben Vereen of your chicken Florentine.
02:23And if you did want to flour, but you can't do wheat, I think rice flour would also work
02:27here, as would probably cornstarch.
02:31And whether you do flour or not, once that's set, we'll head to the stove, where we have
02:36a pan set over medium-high heat, in which we've drizzled a couple tablespoons of olive
02:40oil.
02:41And what we're going to try to do here is just barely cook this chicken breast through,
02:46while at the same time forming a beautiful golden crust on both sides.
02:51And because that's going to take a little bit of time, once the chicken starts sizzling,
02:55I think we should back our heat down to medium, so our chicken has time to cook through, before
02:59the outside gets too, too dark.
03:02So that's what I did, and I gave that first side about four or five minutes before flipping
03:06it over.
03:08And as you can see, thanks to that flour, we've developed a beautiful golden-brown crust.
03:13And then we'll simply do the same thing to the other side, and then I know you're not
03:17supposed to, but I do flip this back over for another minute, just because I wanted
03:21to give that first side a little more color.
03:24And since my chicken breast wasn't totally cooked yet, I was able to do that.
03:28And that's it.
03:29As soon as our chicken breast is just barely cooked, I'm going to turn off the heat and
03:33set that aside for a few minutes, while we put together the rest of the dish.
03:37And for that, we're going to melt some butter and some olive oil over medium-high heat,
03:42and whatever pan we're going to present the final dish in.
03:45And we will toss in a whole bunch of crushed or finely minced garlic, as well as some minced
03:49shallots, although if you want, you can use any kind of onion.
03:53And we will cook that, stirring, for about a minute.
03:55And it's probably not a bad idea to add another pinch of salt at this point.
04:00And yes, that was a lot of garlic, but for me, this is as much a garlic sauce as it is
04:05a spinach sauce, so I do like to use a heavy hand.
04:09And then once that has cooked for about a minute, we will pour in a couple tablespoons
04:13of white wine, although maybe that was more like three tablespoons.
04:16I mean, there's really no way to tell for sure.
04:20But anyway, we'll add a splash of wine, and we'll give that a stir.
04:24And what we'll do is let that cook for a couple minutes, until it reduces slightly.
04:28And when we give this a stir, if we can see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds, that
04:32means our wine is probably reduced enough.
04:35And once things do get to that stage, we will stop and add some freshly grated lemon
04:39zest, as well as a nice handful of diced sweet red bell pepper.
04:44And we will stir all that together and let it cook for another minute or so, just until
04:48those pieces of pepper soften up ever so slightly, at which point we can go ahead and pour in
04:53our heavy cream.
04:54And by the way, this is a very modern version of Chicken Florentine I'm showing you.
04:58Right back in culinary school, we would have used a béchamel sauce, which is a white sauce
05:03made with milk, butter, and flour.
05:05But I think this cream version is a little bit nicer, and a little more luxurious, and
05:10probably, most importantly, a little bit simpler and easier.
05:13But anyway, what we'll do is let our cream simmer, until it reduces down a little bit
05:18and starts to thicken up.
05:20And while that's happening, we can season the cream with some freshly ground black pepper,
05:24plus a few shakes of cayenne, just to stay in shape.
05:27And I also decided to do another pinch of salt, because that cream is not seasoned.
05:32Oh, and since we did the chicken in a separate pan, just to make the searing easier, we have
05:36to transfer in any rendered fat and accumulated juices into this.
05:41Or if you want, you could just do everything in this pan to begin with.
05:44But most of us are going to have better luck searing that chicken in a non-stick pan, which
05:48we could have finished the dish in, but I thought this would look a little nicer.
05:53But anyway, once our cream has simmered for a few minutes, and it's thickened slightly
05:57and looks a little something like this, we'll reduce our heat to medium, and we will transfer
06:01in our prepped spinach, and then we'll give that a stir until everything is evenly combined.
06:07And the approach I'm using here, is basically to use this as a sauce for our already cooked
06:11chicken.
06:12Okay, if you wanted, you could just sear the chicken breast quickly, and then finish cooking
06:16it in this hot sauce.
06:18But sometimes the point at which the sauce is perfect, is not necessarily the point where
06:22the chicken is perfect.
06:24So that's the main advantage for doing the two components independently.
06:28And if that's the approach you're going to take, what we'll do is place our cooked chicken
06:31breast back in right now, and we will nestle those down into our hot sauce, and we will
06:36simply let this simmer on medium for three or four minutes, until that probably still
06:41pretty warm chicken heats all the way through.
06:43And of course, if you want to baste the chicken with our creamy spinach, go ahead.
06:47But as far as presentation goes, I kind of like how it looks now.
06:51So I'm actually not going to baste, and I'm just going to serve it up like this.
06:56And then for a final couple touches, I'm going to drizzle the tops of my chicken with olive
06:59oil.
07:00I like that flour helped form a crust because we didn't use the skin, but besides texture,
07:05the skin also provides fat, so I think the olive oil helps make up for that, and helps
07:10amplify the flavor and aroma of the final touch, which would be a little more freshly
07:15grated lemon zest.
07:17And that's it!
07:18My take on Chicken Florentine was ready to enjoy!
07:21So let me go ahead and grab a spoon, and serve one of these breasts up.
07:25And since we already saw how beautiful our chicken was when we served this up, it is
07:29now perfectly fine to spoon that creamed spinach over the top.
07:33And then for an optional touch, I do like to squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon juice
07:37over the top, which I think helps cut through this fairly rich sauce, and it just seems
07:42to taste a little fresher and more vibrant when we squeeze it on at the end versus putting
07:46it in the sauce.
07:48But anyway, that, my friends, was absolutely delicious, and even though I just took a bite
07:53of the thinnest, most cooked part of the chicken, it was still very moist and tender.
07:58And thanks to dredging it in the flour, and adding that olive oil on at the end, I'm not
08:03really even missing the lack of skin.
08:05Alright, in a perfect world, these would have skin on them, but unfortunately, the stores
08:10don't sell boneless skin-on chicken, and you'd have to cut that yourself off a whole chicken,
08:15which most people don't want to do, and I don't blame you.
08:19But anyway, the point is, this was incredible, and of course, feel free to serve this with
08:23some rice, or pasta, or potatoes.
08:26But as much as I love all those things, this was definitely rich enough and satisfying
08:30enough to eat by itself.
08:32But whether you serve this with a side dish or not, it is an incredibly classic, old-school
08:37dish that we've slightly modernized, and I really do hope you give it a try soon.
08:43So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
08:48more info, as usual.
08:50And as always, enjoy!