Seared Chicken with Garlic Thyme Pan Sauce and Buttered Celeriac Mash
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Golden seared chicken breasts finished in a garlicky thyme pan sauce, served over a buttery celeriac and potato mash. A high-protein, comforting stovetop dinner.
- Total
- 50 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 30 · Rest 5
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Searing · Pan sauce
Instructions
-
Peel the celeriac and potatoes and cut both into 3 cm chunks. Put them in the pot, cover with cold water, add 1 tsp salt and bring to a boil over high heat.
~10 min
Starting in cold water lets the chunks heat evenly so the dense celeriac and potatoes finish cooking at the same time.
-
Lower the heat and simmer until a knife slides through the celeriac and potatoes with no resistance, 15 to 18 minutes.
~18 min
A gentle simmer keeps the pieces intact instead of bashing them apart, so the mash stays fluffy rather than gluey.
-
While step 2 cooks
While the vegetables simmer, pat the chicken breast dry, slice each one horizontally into two thinner cutlets and season both sides with the remaining 0.5 tsp salt and the black pepper. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and strip the thyme leaves from the sprigs.
~8 min
A dry surface browns instead of steaming, and thin cutlets cook through before the outside overcooks.
-
Heat the large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Lay the chicken cutlets in a single layer and sear undisturbed until golden underneath, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook until the chicken reaches 74°C in the thickest part, 3 to 4 minutes more, then transfer to a plate.
~8 min
Leaving the cutlets undisturbed builds a golden crust through the Maillard reaction, and that browned layer becomes the base of the pan sauce.
Searing Get the pan properly hot and leave the cutlets untouched until they release easily and show a golden crust; moving them too soon prevents browning.
-
Lower the heat to medium, add 20 g butter to the same pan and let it melt. Add the garlic and thyme leaves and cook just until fragrant, 30 to 45 seconds, without letting the garlic brown. Pour in 60 ml milk and scrape up the browned bits, simmering until the sauce thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes.
~3 min
Scraping the browned bits into the milk dissolves those roasted flavours into the sauce, while brief cooking keeps the garlic sweet rather than bitter.
Pan sauce Melt the butter over medium heat, bloom the garlic briefly without browning, then scrape the browned bits into the liquid to build flavour.
-
Drain the celeriac and potatoes, return them to the pot and mash with the remaining 20 g butter and 20 ml milk until smooth. Season with a pinch of salt.
~5 min
Draining well and mashing while hot lets the butter and milk absorb smoothly instead of leaving the mash watery.
-
Return the chicken and any resting juices to the pan and turn the cutlets in the sauce for 1 minute to warm through. Spoon the mash onto plates, top with the chicken and pan sauce, and rest 5 minutes before eating.
~6 min
A short rest lets the juices redistribute through the meat so they stay in the cutlet rather than running onto the plate.
