Slow-roasted chicken with mushroom sauce

Chef Geert Elzinga shares his modern take on a popular Dutch classic. Tender and moist with an earthy mushroom sauce, the long, slow roasting ensures the meat falls away from the bone.

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  4 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 chicken marylands, jointed if large
• 80 g button mushrooms, sliced
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 25 g plain flour
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) white wine
• grapeseed oil or olive oil, for frying
• 250 ml (1 cup) chicken stock
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• ¼ cup picked tarragon leaves, plus extra to serve
• steamed rice, to serve
• steamed green beans, to serve

The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 110˚C.

Lightly season the marylands with salt and pepper and arrange on a baking paper-lined oven tray. Transfer to the oven and cook for 4 hours. Reduce heat to lowest possible setting.

When the chicken is almost ready, make the sauce by melting the butter over a medium-low heat in a small saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Slowly add the wine and stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat and cover the base with a layer of oil. Once the oil is hot, transfer the chicken from the oven to the frying pan and cook, skin-side down, for 3–4 minutes until the skin is golden and crisp. Return the chicken to the oven to rest while you finish the sauce, keeping the frying pan on the heat.

Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil from the frying pan, then add the mushrooms and nutmeg and cook for 3–4 minutes until the mushrooms are soft. Add the mushrooms and tarragon leaves to the sauce and season to taste.

Serve the chicken with mushroom sauce, steamed green beans and steamed rice.

Photography by Alan Benson

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.