Grown Up Food – Chicken with Green Peppercorns
Before I learned how to sear a duck breast or make shrimp cocktail, before I made chicken piccata or sea scallops in brown butter, there was chicken with green peppercorns. I don’t know where I found the recipe, but I loved it as soon as I made it. I must have cooked it for the first time when I was in my early twenties. Chicken breast pounded thin and sautéed, covered in a cream sauce studded with green peppercorns; it was fancy. It made me feel grown up, like I was cooking a real dinner. I could invite friends over for a true sit-down dinner party, with a side dish or two, candles, and a glass of wine. Maybe even cloth napkins. How elegant.
While chicken with green peppercorns is certainly delicious, and the lightly-spiced cream sauce gives it an air of sophistication, in reality it is easy to make. Cook some chicken breast in butter; sweat some onions; a bit of flour to thicken it up; then cream, salt, and green peppercorns; and finish it with a splash of white wine. Back then, this was a big deal; I felt like an adult.
As time passed, I stopped making chicken with green peppercorns. I learned to make other upscale dishes. I realized that elegant, sophisticated dinner parties are overrated. And I discovered that when you actually become an adult you can’t eat too much cream sauce, lest you limit the number of meals your future holds. I haven’t made it for probably 20 years.
But recently I was in a spice store staring at the green peppercorns. I wondered if this dish was as delicious as I recalled. I couldn’t resist buying some and preparing it for my family. It was lightly spiced, creamy, decadent, and delicious, just as I remembered. My son agreed. He told me he loved it as he finished a second helping, and asked why I had never cooked it before.
It’s always good to go back and visit dishes and meals and recipes that were important earlier in your life; to contemplate what they meant to you. For me, this recipe meant that I was grown up. And while I almost never make it anymore, it is still one of my favorite recipes of all time.
Chicken with Green Peppercorns
Green peppercorns are unripe, uncooked peppercorns, the same berry that gets ground up as black pepper. Yet they are milder than black peppercorns and thus add flavor without the bite. Green peppercorns are usually sold dried or pickled in a brine. I find that the pickled ones are easier to use and are certainly softer to the bite when eaten; thus I prefer them. Dried ones will do just fine if reconstituted in a little salted, boiling water. Both dried and brined green peppercorns can be purchased at a spice store or online.
serves 4, about a half hour
1 tsp. green peppercorns, drained if in brine, reconstituted and drained if dried
1¼ tsp. kosher salt divided (if using dried green peppercorns), ¼ tsp. kosher salt (if using brined)
4 chicken breasts, pounded to about ¼-inch thickness
2 Tbsp. butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ cup light cream
¼ cup dry white wine
- If using dried green peppercorns, reconstitute them by placing them in 1 cup boiling water with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Allow them to sit for a half hour, then drain.
- Pound the chicken breasts to ¼-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap.
- Melt the butter over a medium-high heat in a skillet large enough to hold the chicken breasts. (Alternatively, use a smaller skillet and cook the chicken breasts in stages.) When the butter has melted, add the chicken breasts and sauté until cooked through, flipping once, a total of about 5 minutes. Remove the cooked chicken breasts to a serving plate.
- Lower the heat to low and add the finely chopped onion to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently until the onion is tender, but not browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the flour and stir constantly to coat the onions. Cook the flour for about 2 minutes, which will thicken the sauce.
- Add the light cream, drained green peppercorns, and ¼ teaspoon salt, cooking and stirring constantly until the sauce is thick and bubbly, about 2 minutes. As you stir, lightly crush some of the peppercorns with the spoon.
- Slowly whisk in the white wine and stir to combine with the cream. Cook until heated through.
- Spoon over chicken to serve.
