Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Tarragon Cream Sauce

You aren't truly an Iowan unless you attend (and adore) the Iowa State Fair. It is such a great time! From the cattle barns to the food on a stick to the music to the crazy contests and more! It's just an experience you can't explain until you've gone. And oh how we've gone. Every year and multiple times each year. But this year was a little different. After looking over the entertainment information this year, we noticed that Heidi Newfield was playing on one of the free music stages. You see, our wedding first dance song was "Johnny and June" by Miss Newfield.

Drew and I were so excited! So we headed out to the fair early that Sunday. We walked through the various building to check out vendors, headed through the midway, enjoyed a few cold beers as the Steer and Stein, and then (8, yes 8, hours later) we made our way to the stage where she would be playing on.

Her show was AWESOME! The final song of the evening was our song. So we rushed the stage and danced to it! I managed to take a few pictures, but none of them really turn out too well:

Ahh, such a great night. It got me a little sappy about our wedding and what a fabulous day it was. And then it got me thinking about the food. Oh our food was amazing! Allow me just reminisce for a moment...

During cocktail hour we had butler passed appetizers: mini quiche stuffed with sundried tomato, wild mushrooms and gouda, mushroom and proscuitto with pesto on italian baguette, and sundried tomato, basil and brie hyrollers. For dinner we had a salad of baby spinach with mandarin oranges and dried cranberries with balsamic vinigrette and for dinner we served tarragon seared breast of chicken with an herb cream sauce (yes, I am getting to a recipe... hang in there!).

So after dancing to our first dance song again, I decided to give our main entree a try a few days later. I couldn't find an exact recipe, but this one seemed close enough to take me down memory lane!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon (I used a lot more, probably 3 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

• In a medium frying pan, heat the butter over moderate heat. Season the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and add it to the pan. Cook the chicken until brown, about 8 minutes. Turn and cook until just done, 8 minutes longer. Remove the chicken from the pan and put it in a warm spot.
• Reduce the heat to moderately low. Stir in the onion and cook until starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir to combine.
• Increase the heat to moderate; whisk in the wine and the tarragon, and cook until the sauce starts to thicken, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the cream, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and any accumulated chicken juices.
• I also needed to add a little bit of cornstarch to the sauce because mine was thickening up very well.
• Serve the sauce over the chicken.

This dish was good, but definitely did not resemble our wedding food at all. The tarragon wasn't nearly as strong in the sauce as I thought it should be. The sauce was also a little sweet... although I'm certain this is due to using a Chardonnay we had in the fridge. Overall I think this is worth trying but I would have chosen a different wine next time. If you give it a whirl, will you let me know?

This recipe is just another reminder as why nothing will ever compare to our wedding day :)