Birds of all sizes may now be obtained all year round.  The youngest birds are called Baby Chicks (french-poussins) , Spring chickens ( french-petits poulets), these are normally grilled or fried.  The birds most popular are roasting chickens (french-poulets), capons (french-chapons), these may be prepared in a number of ways, roasting, braising or boned for escalopes.  Older birds (french-poules) are used for boiling to make delicious soups (french - potages).

4 spring chicken breasts
50 g butter
6 chopped Shallots
4 dl of single cream
3 tablesp. Dijon Mustard
2 glasses of  white wine (any old white wine left over from a meal)
Salt & Ground Pepper

Decoration
chopped fresh parsley & chives
diced tomatoes (remove skin, cut into 4, remove the seeds, then dice up)

WINE  Chardonnay

1.  Fry the breasts lightly in hot butter, remove the breasts from the saucepan and drain.  In the same hot butter fry the chopped shallots, once coloured add the 2 dl of white wine, stirring occasionally, simmer for at least 5-10 mins.
2.   Return to the saucepan the lightly brown  chicken breasts. Season with salt & the ground pepper. Cover and leave to simmer for at least 20 mins.  (Add a little water if you see that the chicken breasts look dry!, if not they'll burn and they'll be no sauce to mix in the cream and mustard).
3.   Once the chicken breasts are cooked, remove onto a serving dish, keep warm by putting the dish in a warm oven or cover with aluminium foil.
4.   Strain the sauce (there should be at least 2 dl) into a bowl.  Clean the saucepan.   Put the strained sauce back into the saucepan over a low heat.    Whisk the 4 dl single cream with the Dijon  mustard  into the hot sauce over low heat.  Simmer  to reduce it to the required thickness  (do not boil), season if need.
5.   If you find the sauce a little thin add a  thickening agent, like a little  cornflour mixed with a drop of water.
6.   Arrange the cooked steamed spring vegetables in a shallow dish, with   the chicken breasts in the centre, pour over the creamy mustard sauce, sprinkle with the chopped herbs and diced tomatoes.  Serve very hot.
 

BON APPETIT!! 

Servers 4