Valentine's Dinner - Part 3

Welcome to the final post for our 2012 Valentine's dinner. This post is dedicated to the final course which was Chicken Tarragon and Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes.

The Chicken Tarragon dish was the one I was referring to in a previous post, when I mentioned that one of the recipes had been tried before at a cooking class. Steve and I first tried our hands at this recipe at a cooking class at The Halifax Club. I have gone to several cooking classes there and have always enjoyed what I have made and usually choose at least one dish to try at home at a later date. The French Cuisine cooking class in January had a variety of tasty dishes and the one that Steve and I were in charge of making was the Chicken Tarragon. At the class we made the recipe for 18 people and it was delicious! Last night we made the dish and scaled it down for just the two of us and it tasted exactly like it did at the cooking class. This recipe is once again, easy to make, and has a great taste. If you haven't cooked with tarragon before, I suggest that you try this recipe as a great intro to the flavour.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 2 shallots chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons port or red wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper
• cooking oil spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375F
• Coat pyrex dish with with cooking oil spray
• Sprinkle the chicken with tarragon, chopped shallots, salt and pepper
• Roast for 25-30 minutes in the oven
• Simmer chicken stock in saucepan
• Combine the port with the cornstarch (mix well), then slowly add to the chicken stock
• Add butter to the chicken stock/cornstarch/port, stir well and boil at high heat until sauce has thickened. Add a pinch of tarragon
• Pour the liquid over the chicken

The garlic and herb mashed potatoes are my own recipe. I have always loved mashed potatoes and enjoy adding little extra ingredients to them to help compliment a meal. For this meal I decided to incorporate garlic and herb cream cheese because it would blend well with the tastes of tarragon in the chicken dish.

Ingredients:

• 3 potatoes
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup of milk (depending on the texture you prefer)
• 3 tablespoons of Philadelphia garlic and herb cream cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Boil large pot of water and add in the 3 peeled potatoes
• When the potatoes are cooked through, drain water
• Slowly add milk and begin mashing potatoes
• Add cream cheese and continue mashing potatoes
• Add salt and pepper to taste

 The complete Valentine's dinner was delicious and was entertaining to make (I also enjoyed having the opportunity to test out specific settings on my camera to help highlight aspects of the cooking process and end results). Our first Valentine's dinner adventure was a great success and we are looking forward to making more tasty treats and delectable dishes.

Bon appetit and enjoy!