Chick­en Pojars­ki with Caramelized Car­rots and Rice

(serves 4)

CHICK­EN:
splash of olive oil
5 cloves gar­lic, minced
1 shal­lot, minced
1 tbsp papri­ka (sounds a lot, but trust me)
4 chick­en breast fil­lets, cubed in bite-size pieces
splash of Madeira
1 cup chick­en stock
1 cup creme fraiche (half-fat is fine)

CAR­ROTS:
5 tbsps butter
1/2 cup dark brown soft sugar
4 car­rots per per­son, sliced in rounds

RICE:
1/2 cup bas­mati rice per person

For the chick­en, saute the gar­lic and shal­lot gen­tly in the oil, then add the chick­en and cook on all sides briefly (not ful­ly cooked). Set chick­en aside and add the Madeira to the pan and raise the heat. Scrape all cooked bits into the liq­uid and add chick­en stock. Low­er heat and whisk in creme fraiche. Add chick­en and its accu­mu­lat­ed juices and poach very gen­tly for 15 min­utes. At this point you may turn off the heat and leave the dish until you are ready to eat, heat­ing it gen­tly just before serving.

About 40 min­utes before you want to eat, melt the but­ter and sug­ar togeth­er and sim­mer, siz­zling. Drop car­rots in and cook, stir­ring occa­sion­al­ly, low­er­ing the heat as necessary.

About 20 min­utes before you want to eat, steam the rice. I’ve found that the rice sticks much less to the pan if you turn the heat off for five min­utes or so before serv­ing, keep­ing the lid tight­ly shut.

Pile the rice in the cen­ter of the plate and ladle the chick­en and sauce on top, then make a nice mound of the car­rots on the side. All you need is… a fork.