Bobby Flay's Chicken With Roquefort
This recipe came to us
from Bobby Flay in advance of the opening of his restaurant Gato. The chicken
gets a jolt of flavor not only from the cheese but also from a honey and sherry
vinegar gastrique, basically a sauce made from caramelized sugar or another
sweet ingredient like the honey, deglazed with vinegar and then reduced.
INGREDIENTS
·
¼
cup clover honey
·
½
cup aged sherry vinegar
·
Kosher salt and ground
black pepper
·
8
tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
at room temperature
·
¼
cup crumbled Roquefort cheese at room
temperature
·
4
skin-on boneless chicken breasts, 8
ounces each
·
2
tablespoons canola oil
·
4
sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for
garnish.
PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 400
degrees. Put honey in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until lightly
golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and cook until reduced and
thickened, about 15 minutes. This sweet deglazed sauce is called a gastrique.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
2. Mix together the
butter and blue cheese in a small bowl until well blended, and season to taste
with salt and pepper. Using your fingers, gently loosen the skin from the
chicken breasts and stuff about 1 heaping tablespoon of the blue cheese butter
under the skin of each breast, smoothing the skin to evenly distribute the
butter over the surface of the breast meat. Season both sides of the chicken
with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in large
ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat until it begins to shimmer. Put chicken in
the pan, skin-side down, and cook until fat renders and skin is golden brown
and crispy, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken and add four rosemary sprigs to pan.
Place in oven and roast until breasts are just cooked through, about 5 minutes
longer. Remove pan from oven and heat broiler. Spread the remaining butter over
the tops of each breast and place under the broiler until golden brown and
blistered.
4. Remove each breast
to a plate, spoon some of the pan drippings over each breast and immediately
drizzle with some of the gastrique. Garnish with rosemary.