Low-Carb Chicken Breasts in a Butter, Basil & Tomato Cream Sauce

This delicate dish, with its tiny sequins of butter, is quick to make, but it does involve some faffery in the tomato-peeling department. It's worth the effort, though - the dabs of fresh tomato and basil shreds add freshness to the sauce, which is scandalously creamy and buttery, containing as it does those two luscious ingredients so allowed on a low-carb #LCHF or #Banting diet.  This is a dish of utmost simplicity, and I hope you enjoy it.

Low-Carb Chicken Breasts in a Butter, Basil & Tomato Cream Sauce

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Môreson Dr Reason Why Unwooded
Chardonnay 2013 - Franschhoek. Go to the end of the page for more detail about this pairing.

The first time I made this, I found the sauce lacked depth, as is the case with any dish made in a hurry. The next time I tried it, I added a little concentrated chicken stock, which made all the difference.  It's frowned upon in foodster circles to use shop stock, but I have no patience with this attitude.  I don't have time, when I'm making my family's evening meal, to fiddle around making stock, or thawing and reducing the many tubs of home-made stock ossifying in my freezer.  Two important points: one, use a good quality concentrated stock; two, these can be quite salty, so don't season the sauce until you've tasted it.

Please follow my instructions to the letter in this recipe so your chicken breasts are beautifully tender, without a hint of rubberiness.

As this sauce is subtle, I suggest you serve it with meek-tasting veggies, such as courgettes or baby green beans.  Don't pair it with the ubiquitous caulirice or cauliflower mash, which will overpower the understated tomato and basil flavours. If you're not on a low-carb regime, I'd recommend serving this with creamy mashed potatoes.

If you'd like to add a little smokiness to this dish, crisp up some finely chopped bacon in a hot pan before you fry the chicken breasts.  Set aside, then stir the bits in when you add the cream.

The pulp and seeds of tomato are packed with umami, so don't throw these away when you prepare the tomatoes - again, see my instructions below.

This sauce contains no starchy agents, relying for thickening on fast reduction.  So it's suitable for diabetics, low-carbers and everyone else reducing carbohydrates in their diets.


Low-Carb Chicken Breasts in a Butter, Basil & Tomato Cream Sauce

8 free-range, deboned, skinless chicken breasts
salt and milled black pepper
5 large red juicy tomatoes
boiling water, for skinning the tomatoes
3 Tbsp (45 ml) salted butter
2 Tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
1 small clove garlic, peeled and finely crushed or grated
1½ tsp (7.5 ml) good quality concentrated chicken stock, such as a Nomu Fond or Knorr Chicken Stock Pot
1 cup (250 ml) cream
10 big fresh basil leaves
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Trim any globules of fat from the chicken breasts, place on a board and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Put the tomatoes into a big bowl and cover them with boiling water. Set aside for 3-4 minutes, or until you see their skins begin to wrinkle and split.

Very gently cook the chicken breasts on one side only in their buttery
 bath. I have turned over two breasts in this picture to show you how
 they should look when they're ready to be taken out of the pan.

In the meantime, heat the butter and olive oil over a high heat in a large shallow pan big enough to fit all the chicken breasts in a single layer.

When the butter stops foaming, add the breasts, smooth side down, turn down the heat to medium-low and gently fry them in their buttery bath for 3-4 minutes, or until their undersides are a light golden colour, but the breasts are still completely raw on top.  Don't allow them to brown or burn - if the butter is anywhere near darkening, turn the heat right down.  When they look as if they've cooked halfway through, remove from the pan and pile them onto a plate. Set aside.

Pull the wrinkly skin off the tomatoes and discard. Carve out the dots on the stalk ends and slice each one in half.  Place a bowl on your countertop and, holding each tomato half above the bowl, remove the seeds and pulp, letting these drop into the bowl. It's easiest to do this with your fingers.

Slice the outer parts of the tomatoes into a fine dice, and place these little pieces in a sieve set over the bowl containing the tomato pulp. Drain for a few minutes, then set aside in a bowl (you'll add these bits to the sauce at the end).

Gently reheat the oil/butter mixture in the pan and add the crushed garlic. Cook over a low heat for 30-60 seconds, without letting the garlic brown.  Now hold your sieve over the pot, and into it tip the contents of the bowl containing the tomato pulp and juices.  Press down hard with the back of a soup ladle - or your fist - to extract every bit of juice.  Discard the remaining pulp.

Add the concentrated chicken stock and bring the butter/tomato juice mixture to a brisk simmer. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute.  Now stir in the cream, a splash at a time.  It's important to do this slowly - and off the heat - to prevent your sauce from curdling.

Simmer the browned chicken breasts in the creamy
sauce very gently, until just cooked through.

Return the pan to the heat and bubble over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. The sauce will soon thicken slightly, with the bubbles in the centre getting bigger and lazier. Return the chicken pieces to the pan, uncooked side down, along with the golden juices that have collected beneath them.

Simmer, uncovered, for about 4 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are just cooked through, but still very tender and succulent.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the basil leaves into fine shreds.  It's easiest to do this by stacking four or five leaves together, rolling them up into a tight 'cigar', then slicing them very finely crossways.

When the chicken is done, stir in the reserved diced tomato flesh and the shredded basil.

Add a spritz of lemon juice - just enough to give the sauce a slight pleasant acidity - and stir. Serve immediately with steamed veggies.

Serves 8, as a main course along with vegetables. 

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

Môreson Dr Reason Why Unwooded Chardonnay 2013 - Franschhoek

It looks like: Beautiful gem-like citrine in colour in the glass.

It smells like: Tropical fruit, windfall citrus.

It tastes like: Crisp and fresh like a Granny Smith Apple.  Creamy desiccated pineapple, fresh sliced pear and the texture of ripe winter melon.  A wash of lime on the long aftertaste.

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I'm teaming up with wine guru Michael Olivier for excellent recipe + wine pairings

I'm excited to tell you that my friend Michael Olivier will be collaborating with me on this blog from now on. Michael has agreed to provide expert wine recommendations for all my future recipes, and I'm ridiculously pleased to team up with him.

Revered Cape food & wine fundi Michael Olivier. Follow him on Twitter: @manmetdiepan

Anyone who knows Michael will agree that his huge kind heart is just one among his many endearing qualities. I first met him some four years ago, when he congratulated me on a speech I gave about seminal food writers at the 2012 South African Food Blogger's Conference. I was an unknown food blogger, and he was one of the Cape's best-loved elders in the food and wine community. I appreciated this because at the time - and not much has changed since then, I'm afraid - food bloggers were regarded by many in the mainstream food media as talentless upstarts.

We formed an instant connection and were soon firm friends. Over the ensuing years, Michael became a treasured mentor. He encouraged and supported me with boundless enthusiasm, as he's done for so many newcomers to the Cape food world - budding chefs, young wine-makers, beginner food bloggers, and so on.  Michael's rare generosity in sharing his expertise, with no expectation of anything in return, reminds me of that quote 'A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle'.   He's also very funny, very clever, practical, implacable and stuffed with knowledge, which sums up what I want in a friend.

Last year Michael won the Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award from Eat Out, affirming his position as le grand fromage (The Big Cheese) of South African food & wine.

I know very little about wine - apart from being an expert in drinking it - and have not much interest in this area, so I hope Michael's inspired recommendations will teach me (and you) about a whole new world of flavour.

I must mention (with an exasperated sigh) that no money, favours or freebies are exchanging hands in this collaboration - it's only about a love of wine, food, and each other.

The first two recipes updated with Michael's wine pairings:

My Low-Carb Double-Cauliflower Cheese

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew


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Low-Carb Double Cauliflower Cheese

I love cheesy cauliflower cloaked in bubbling white sauce, but not a morsel has passed my lips since I started my low-carb regime last year. Then it occurred to me  - why not make a 'white sauce' from puréed cauliflower? I did, and that's why I've called this new recipe Double Cauliflower Cheese.  It's also doubly cheesy, with a topping of both Cheddar and Parmesan.  I've added some sympathetic flavours - mustard, lemon, nutmeg and white pepper - to the sauce to tone down the caulifloweriness, and I'm pleased with the result. This is gluten-free, diabetic-friendly, and well suited to anyone on a Low-Carb High Fat (#LCHF) regime.

Low-Carb Double-Cauliflower Cheese.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Boland Cellar Five Climates
Chenin Blanc 2014. Go to the end of the page for more detail about this pairing.

This isn't difficult to make, but to achieve a silken purée you will need a fairly powerful food processor fitted with a metal blade. If you don't have one, you can use a liquidiser or stick blender and a lot of patience. Don't add the cream to the sauce too early if you're going to be whizzing it for a long time, as it may thicken or even turn to buttery granules. If you find your sauce is a little grainy despite your patient blitzing, push it through a sieve before you pour it over the cauliflower florets.

This is good with a squirt of tomato sauce, my family reckons, but I like it flecked with Tabasco. If you want to add real luxury to the dish, throw in some crisped bacon bits when you assemble the dish, or use cubed, fried gammon, as I've done in this recipe: Luxurious Broccoli 'n Cheese with Gammon, and a Parmesan Crust.

And if you're not on a low-carb regime, try my Luxurious Cauliflower Cheese with Bacon and Leeks, which has an indulgent topping of buttered breadcrumbs.

This recipe will make slightly more sauce than you need, but you can cover the remainder and save it for dolloping over steamed veggies later in the week.  For extra flavour, and if you have time, infuse the hot milk ahead of time with a bay leaf, a slice of onion and a clove.

Low-Carb Double-Cauliflower Cheese

2 large heads cauliflower, or 4 small ones
5 Tbsp (75 ml) water
salt
½ cup (125 ml) hot milk, plus extra for thinning
4 Tbsp (60 ml) cream
2 Tbsp (30 ml) butter
2½ cups (about 150 g) grated Cheddar
2 tsp (10 ml) Dijon mustard
a pinch or more of freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
a pinch of white pepper, to taste
a squeeze of lemon juice

For the topping: 
1 cup (250 ml, fairly loosely packed) grated Cheddar
5 Tbsp (75 ml) grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
sweet paprika or cayenne pepper, for dusting

Heat the oven to 180 ºC, fan on.

First make the sauce. Remove the green leaves from one of the cauliflowers (or two, if you're using small caulis).  Trim off the stalk and cut the cauliflower lengthways into quarters. Now use a sharp knife to cut away the core, and break up the florets.

Heat a large pot over a medium-high flame, add the water, the cauli florets and a pinch of salt. Cover and let them  steam for about 15 minutes, or until the stalks are very tender.  Check the pan now and again, adding more water if the pan starts to dry out.  If you'd like a nutty taste, let the water dry up so the florets take on a little golden colour, but watch them carefully so they don't scorch.

Whizz the cauliflower with the butter, cream
and milk to a fine purée. 

Drain the cauliflower in a colander for 2 minutes then tip it, piping hot, into a food processor (or return it to the pan if you're using a stick blender).  Add the milk, cream and butter and whizz to a fine, soft purée.

Now, while the mixture is still hot, add the grated Cheddar and process until the cheese has melted into the sauce.

Add the mustard, nutmeg and white pepper and mix well. Now thin the sauce with more hot milk so it's about the consistency of a thickish white sauce.

Season to taste with salt. Add a spritz or two of lemon juice - just enough to give the sauce a little sparkle.  Set aside.

Cut up and steam the remaining cauliflower, as described above, but cook it until it is just tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. (I do this in the microwave, in a big bowl tightly covered with clingfilm - it takes about 7 minutes, on high.)  Drain well in a colander for three minutes, then tip the florets into a large buttered oven-proof dish.

Top the cauliflower cheese with grated Cheddar, Parmesan
and a dusting of sweet paprika or cayenne pepper.

Pour over the reserved sauce - just enough generously to coat the florets - and sprinkle with the Cheddar, Parmesan and a dusting of sweet paprika (or cayenne pepper if you fancy that).

Bake in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and golden.  Serve immediately with a crisp green salad.

Serves 4 hungry people, or 6 as a side dish.












Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: Pale gold straw in the glass. Gem bright.

It smells like: Classic Chenin. Tropical fruits like guava. Honey. White flowers.

It tastes like: Excellent mouthful of wine with great breadth and depth of flavour. The guava is in full presence, as are slice ripe pear and red apple. While dry, there is a whisper of honey. Long aftertaste, clean, crisp and fresh.


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Low-Carb Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with a Naartjie Gremolata

It's the gremolata that makes this stew special: a heavenly scent of citrus, parsley and garlic billows up as your face meets the plate. The starring ingredient here is freshly zested naartjie [clementine] peel - a glorious South African flavour that brings such warmth and colour to winter kitchens.

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie, Lemon, Garlic & Parsley Gremolata.
 Bowl by my uncle David Walters, Master Potter of Franschhoek.

Wine recommendation from Michael Oliver: Simonsig Pinotage 2012.  Go to the
end of the  page for more detail about this pairing.

I'm besotted with naartjies and use them with abandon in many dishes, even more so now that I've discovered that they have no impact on my blood sugar. They're one of the only fruits I, as a diabetic, can eat with no fear.  At the end of this post, you'll find links to some of my favourite naartjie recipes.

This nourishing beef & olive stew is easy to make. 

This heartwarming, deep-flavoured stew is easy to make, but it involves several steps, and takes time, as all good stews do.  It will take you about 45 minutes to get the stew on the go - so put on some music and relax into the cooking! After that you can leave the pot on the stove over a very low heat and forget about it for two or three hours.

Please use well-trimmed, dark-red beef shin in this recipe, preferably with the bone in.  Shin is much leaner than other similar stewing cuts, and it dissolves beautifully into melt-in-the-mouth pieces.  You can use boneless shin if you don't fancy finding those fat ivory bangles in your stew, but the bone marrow does add lovely unctuousness to this dish, and the leftovers make good treats for jealous dogs.

A tip: avoid sliced shin that looks as if it has bone dust sprinkled over the meat.  If your butcher can't slice up a shin without splintering the bone, his saw isn't sharp enough, and you must find a better supplier.  The shins I used here come from Woolies - they're on special now.

If anyone in your family doesn't like olives, set aside a portion before you add the olives.

This recipe contains four tablespoons of flour, so it isn't perfect if you're on a punishing low-carb diet. However, this is a piffling amount of carbohydrates split between six to eight people, so I think I can confidently recommend this for anyone on a low-carb or diabetic regime.

Some of the ingredients for this dish: carrots, leeks, beef shin, bacon, garlic,
red wine, chopped tinned tomatoes, olives and naartjie peel. 

Here's an Instagram quick video of my making this dish: http://instagram.com/p/pONolmw4xc/

Beef Shin, Tomato & Olive Stew with Naartjie Gremolata

8 (2 kg) bone-in beef shin slices
4 Tbps (60 ml) white flour
salt and milled black pepper
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
3 Tbps (45 ml) olive oil, for frying
2 large onions
500 g medium carrots
500 g small leeks
2 bay leaves
a large sprig of fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, peeled
5 Tbsp (75 ml) tomato paste
1 cup (250 ml) dry red wine
2 x 410 g tins tomato-and-onion mix, or chopped tomatoes
1 thumb-sized strip naartjie [clementine] or orange peel
24 Calamata olives, pitted

For the gremolata:
the finely zested rind of 2 small naartjies
the finely zested rind of a lemon or lime
5 Tbsp (75  ml) finely chopped fresh curly parsley
2 small cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated

Trim any small pads of fat off the shin slices. Snip the membrane surrounding the slices here and there so the meat can collapse easily in the pan.  Put the flour on a plate, season generously with salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat a large heavy-based lidded pot over a high flame and fry the bacon bits dry until golden and just crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Press the shin slices - three at a time - into the seasoned flour, and shake to remove the excess. Add the olive oil to the pan and when it is very hot and shimmering - but not yet smoking - add the first three shin slices. Fry for 3 minutes, until nicely golden and caramelised, then turn them over to brown the undersides.  Don't allow the pan to get too fiercely hot, or your stew will have black spots.  Remove the slices from the pan and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the remaining slices.

In the meantime, get the vegetables ready.  Peel the onions and cut them into thick slices, crossways. Do the same with the carrots, cutting them into 2-cm thick slices. Trim the bases of the leeks, remove the green upper parts and slice the white and pale green sections crossways into 4-cm lengths.

When you've finished browning the shin, add the onions, carrots, leeks, bay leaves and thyme sprig to the pan, turn down the heat and sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are beginning to turn golden.

Gently sauté the veggies in the bacon fat & olive oil.

Finely grate or chop the garlic, and add it into the vegetables along with the tomato paste.  Cook, stirring often, for a minute, without allowing the garlic to burn. Pour in the red wine and deglaze the pan, stirring and scraping to dislodge any golden stickiness.

Turn up the heat and add the tinned tomatoes and the reserved bacon and beef shin. Press the shin pieces deep into the liquid and bring to a fast boil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Now turn down the heat to its lowest setting. Cover and bubble very gently for 2½ to 3 hours, or until the meat is so soft you can pull it apart with a fork.  Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the olives.

Check the stew now and then to make sure it isn't sticking on the bottom.  You shouldn't need to add extra liquid, but if the sauce seems too thick, thin it down with a little water.

Just before you serve the stew,  mix together, in a small bowl, the grated naartjie and lemon zest, the chopped parsley and the freshly grated garlic.  Turn off the heat under the stew, and sprinkle with the gremolata.  Alternatively, you can pass the gremolata around the table and let your guests help themselves. [Postscript 15 June 2014: My daughter says not to put too much gremolata on each portion as it can overpower the taste of the stew.]

Serve with hunks of warm crusty bread, or rice, or boiled baby potatoes, or - best of all - creamy mash.

Serves 8 as a main course. 

Wine pairing by Michael Olivier: 

It looks like: ‘Deep Persian carpet red’, say the estate notes. At the edge of the glass the wine shows ruby purple, an indication of its youth.

It smells like: Sweet red berries and cinnamon spice.

It tastes like: Again the red berries. Soft tannins. Sappy with fruit cake spices on the long aftertaste.

More naartjie recipes: 

Slow-Cooked Moroccan-Spiced Beef and Apricot Stew with Naartjie Couscous

Dried Naartjie Peel, and a South African Milk Tart to go under it

Naartjie Mousse in Dark-Chocolate Cups, with Rosemary Flowers

Caramel-Dipped Naartjies on Kebab Sticks

Couscous, Feta & Pea Salad with a Naartjie Dressing



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