Spring Chicken With Mushroom and Lemon

Ingredients

• 450g button mushrooms, or a mix of other mushrooms, sliced
• salt and black pepper
• 55g butter or 60ml olive oil unsalted butter or extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
• 15g all-purpose flour, for dusting
• 680g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5cm pieces
• 2 large shallots, diced
• 1 small bay leaf
• 120ml dry white wine or vermouth
• 480ml chicken broth
• 60g crème fraîche
• 160g frozen peas (optional)
• 6g snipped chives
• 6g roughly chopped dill
• 3g roughly chopped tarragon
• 3g roughly chopped mint
• 10g roughly chopped chervil or parsley
• 2 lemons, zested
• 340g wide egg noodles or wide-cut pasta, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat half the butter or olive oil in a Dutch oven or deep, wide skillet over medium-high. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until lightly browned and softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and transfer the mushrooms to a plate.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dust lightly with flour and shake off the excess. Heat the remaining butter or oil in the same pot over medium. Brown half the chicken on all sides, about 5 minutes, then remove and repeat with the remaining chicken. Add a little more butter or oil if needed.
3. Add shallots to the Dutch oven, and cook over medium-high heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add bay leaf and wine, and simmer for about 2 minutes, scraping the pot to deglaze any browned bits. Return chicken to pot and turn heat to high.
4. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to maintain a brisk simmer and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes, then raise heat to high and let liquid reduce by half, about 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cook noodles or pasta in salted water.
6. Add reserved mushrooms, crème fraîche and peas, if using, to the stew. Reduce sauce again, until thickened to a gravylike consistency, a few minutes more. Taste and adjust seasoning. To finish, stir in half of the chives, dill, tarragon, mint, chervil and lemon zest, reserving part of the herb mix to sprinkle over top.
7. Drain noodles or pasta, transfer to a warm serving platter and spoon chicken and sauce on top, and finish with more of the herb mixture.