pescetarian champagne “chicken”

I was inspired to make Champagne Chicken after reading “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” because it sounds so celebratory and scrumptious and low-fat of course! This very Frenchy book has even more yummy recipes and ideas on living French. Some of the weirdcombos crew…. how shall I say this ….had issues with the whole “chicken” concept. So even though my husband thought that this recipe was the most delicious thing that has ever come from my kitchen, here I present pescetarian variations on this French classic, using tempeh and ling cod as alternatives to the near flightless bird. The basic recipe is not that much changed for the tempeh. We did the fish on the stovetop instead of baking.

The recipe instructions say to drink champagne with the meal. Drinking champagne along with eating food flavored with champagne sounds over the top decadent to me, therefore always a good idea. This is fairly simple to make. The champagne reduction is amazing for baguette dipping. We served it with salad, roasted new potatoes and carrots with garlic and rosemary and more champagne, of course.

Ingredients:

2-4 pieces white fish (about half lb. per person) or tempeh (or for you land-lubbers chicken breasts), try for organic sustainably farmed etc…
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
Fresh tarragon or thyme and rosemary
1 to 2 shallots, quartered
1 cup of Champagne

Put the protein in a roasting pan and season them with salt and pepper. Cut a slit through the pieces to stuff the shallots and herbs inside. Pour ½ cup of the champagne over the stuffed protein.
Broil for 3 minutes and then turn over and broil the other side for four to five more.
Baste protein with the juices from the pan and add the other half cup of champagne.
Return to oven and bake at 475 degrees for about 30 minutes or until done. Baste a few times during cooking.
Drink the rest of the champagne with the meal.

We sautéed the fish on the stove and then cooked covered for about ten minutes until done.

The recipe worked great. I added a little bit of chili pepper the first time that I made this because I like it spicy! I drank champagne as recommended. It was wonderful along with a little ambient French jazz by Jane Birkin! Ooo-La-La! Merci!