It goes from down and dirty stew to dinner party. Don’t get me wrong. I love a creole chicken stew. It’s comfort food with spice. But sometimes upscale is the way to go.
Same ingredients but done differently
Chicken with creole cream sauce takes the basic creole flavours and refines them a bit. Think cajun seasoning and the holy trinity (green bell pepper, onion and celery). Except I’ve dropped the celery. But for a reason. Celery is hard to puree. Has that stringy texture. Texture that has no place in this dish. Something lost in flavour. Something gained in texture. This dish isn’t light on flavour so it’s a pretty good trade.
Low salt creole seasoning is key
There’s no getting around this. You want lots of flavour. And that means lots of creole seasoning. Lots. So you can’t use store bought seasonings Commercial seasoning blends are mostly salt. And if you put lots and lots of commercial seasonings you are going to wind up a really bad meal. Like inedible bad. So you have to make your own. Not such a big deal. Cheaper. And better for you. And more versatile. Because now you control the salt. And the flavour. You can adjust salt up. That’s easy. You cannot adjust salt down. That’s impossible. Make your own low salt creole seasoning. Or dial the creole seasoning way back and be disappointed. Up to you. I know what I pick.
Fond makes chicken with creole cream special
You know those little brown bits in the bottom of your pan when you roast chicken? Those are pure culinary gold. They are what takes average to amazing. You never want to leave them behind. Not ever. There is so much flavour there. When heat hits protein this thing called the Maillard reaction happens. And when that happens all sorts of new, wonderful flavour compounds are created. It’s science. But it’s magic really. And in the end that’s what you want. Magic in the kitchen. I’m not sure chicken with creole cream sauce qualifies as magic. But it will put a smile on your face when you taste it.
