Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts skin off
• 2 cups full cream milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups of baby spinach leaves
• Salt and pepper
• A little cayenne pepper

• For the sauce

• 1½ cups - 350ml heavy cream
• 300g onion (approx. one and a half)
• Salt and pepper
• Nutmeg
• 4 tbsp butter

• Side Dish

• Pilaf rice (see my recipe)

Steps

• Step 1

  Pour the milk into a small saucepan, add the bay leaf, peppercorns and salt. Turn on the heat to very low and bring to a gentle simmer (make sure it doesn’t boil or it will overflow). Place the chicken breasts well submerged in the milk, cover with a lid and turn off the heat. Leave aside. They will continue to cook in residual heat.

• Step 2

  For the sauce, chop the onions finely. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a saucepan then add the chopped onion. Cover with lid and leave to stew gently until very soft. Do not brown. Add the cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Leave to simmer 3-4 minutes. Blitz using a stick blender until very smooth (Or use the blender you have). For extra smoothness, pass through a fine sieve (This is optional). Reheat sauce in saucepan.

• Step 3

  In a frying pan, add a little butter (1 tbsp) and cook the spinach until wilted, a few seconds. Season with salt and pepper, mix well. Place spinach on warm serving plates as a bed for your chicken.

• Step 4

  Remove chicken breast, place over the bed of spinach and coat with the Soubise sauce. Sprinkle a little cayenne pepper. Serve with hot pilaf rice.

Little Tips

If the chicken breasts are very large, you may need to simmer the chicken in the sauce a minute or two.

For extra juicy chicken breasts, leave to marinate overnight in the milk mixture before cooking.