Bay CrossingsCuisine

Compass Rose Celebration Chicken

By Mary Swift-Swan

Surrounded on all sides by fabulous views of San Francisco Bay, celebrants can enjoy freshly cooked Italian-style fare while sailing with Compass Rose Yacht Charters. Started in 1989, the chartered yacht is available for elegant private parties and corporate events, with food from Alameda’s Marina Village cooked while afloat. The business recently changed hands, but is continuing the tradition with renewed emphasis on fine food and excellent service for all their chartered outings. Voyager, a 75-foot vessel that accommodates up to 78 passengers, has a full bar, a small dance area, and seating on two decks for people to eat, drink, and be merry. There is also access to fore and aft (bow and stern or front and back) decks to enjoy the crisp San Francisco breeze or toast the Golden Gate Bridge up close.

On a recent outing on the Voyager with a group from Genetech, we feasted on a celebratory dish which would be perfect for home chefs entertaining in November. Executive Chef Eric Davis and Sous Chef Shaw Prescott shared their recipe for Genentech’s entrée selection, Celebration Chicken. What makes this dish particularly festive is the sauce, plus a few simple techniques that make this dish perfect for keeping chicken (or fish) moist and delicious. The Celebration Sauce is a creamy and rich white wine reduction with a confetti of Concassee’ tomatoes and a hint of fresh basil.

Serves 6-8

Prep time: 10 minutes

Sauce cook time: 1 hour

Chicken cook time: 20 minutes @450 degrees

2-3 Medium shallots, sliced (4Tbs.)

2 Tbs. Olive oil

1 Bottle White wine

1 Qt. Cream at room

temperature

1.5 lb. Vine ripe cherry

tomatoes Concassee’

3 T bs. Fresh basil, chiffonade

1-2 Tbs. Unsalted butter

(optional)

8 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 Tbs. Kosher or coarse salt

1 tsp. Fresh ground pepper

1 sheet Parchment paper (or tin foil)

2 Tbs. Chopped chives for garnish

Cut 2-3 shallots. Chop, mince, or slice thinly. Saute shallots in olive oil using a deep pan til they sweat and become translucent. (A medium size Vidalia onion is an acceptable substitute for the sweet shallots.)

Add a bottle of wine that you would be willing to drink. It does not have to be expensive, simply good to taste. Blend in room temperature cream while the wine is still cool. Bring the mixture to low-medium heat, stirring with a whisk periodically to keep the sauce from boiling. Adding butter can help to keep the cream solids together. If it boils, the solids separate. If the cream tries to turn into small clumps of cheese, it got too hot. Strain, cool, and restart the sauce by adding more cream. The wine will be fine. Heat the three ingredients slowly until reduced to half original volume.

While the white wine sauce base is reducing, chiffonade fresh basil. This is done by laying the large basil leaves in a stack. Roll the leaves from the wide end to the small point. Slice in fine cuts across the end of the roll of leaves.

Concassee’ the tomatoes. To Concassee, first cut tomatoes in half and remove the seeds. Next, cut from the outside across the tomato meat forming strips then cut those in half.

Add all the basil and half of the Concassee’ tomatoes to the reduced wine sauce. Continue reducing until it could fit into a smaller pan.

As the chicken goes into the oven, strain out basil and first set of tomatoes while transferring to a smaller pan. Add the balance of the tomatoes for final reduction.

The first step when working with raw chicken (raw vegetables too) is to wash your hands with an antibacterial mild dish soap and rinse thoroughly.

Trim any fat from the chicken breast.

Place trimmed breasts on a cookie sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper, more than you would think. That is it!

Put the tray with the chicken breasts into the preheated oven to seal in the juices. Cooking in a professional convection oven, it only takes 15 min at 500 degrees. At home, Chef Eric recommends 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the chicken springs back when lightly touched at the thickest part,