Prudhomme's Tomato Cream Chicken

Paul Prudhomme's Tomato Cream Chicken (from page 182 of his Fiery Foods That I Love) is my family's signature "special occasion" chicken dish. It is a somewhat involved recipe, not difficult necessarily, but one that takes some time and a lot of ingredients.

The base of the sauce is a seasoning paste made out of a whole bunch of stuff run through a blender with some chicken stock. It includes onions, peppers, raisins, pine nuts, garlic and a bunch of spices. This is then cooked down in a skillet for a half hour or so while the rest of the dish is worked on.

Seasoning paste at start

Seasoning paste after simmering 30 minutes

The chicken is boneless skinless breasts chunked into pieces, rubbed with a spice mix, browned (and cooked mostly through) and then removed from the pot. Lots of chopped onion is added to the pot drippings and softened. To this is then added more spice, diced tomatoes and the reduced seasoning paste. After this has cooked for a few minutes, lots of stock and heavy cream are added (yes, it's not the healthiest chicken dish in the world...).

Paste with onions, tomatoes and stock

Once this is back to a low boil, the chicken and accumulated juices are added back into the pot and simmered for another 10 to 15 minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked but not overcooked.

Sauce with stock, cream and chicken

The end result is is a richly flavored and complex sauce that has a little heat, but not too much, despite being in a "fiery foods" cookbook.

Tomato Cream Chicken

We always make a double batch for leftovers, and the recipe makes a lot of great sauce, so it is the perfect dish to serve with rice.