Ingredients

• 4 small chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25 g butter
• 4 garlic clovesfinely grated
• 100 g sun-dried tomatoespacked in oil, for a softer, richer result
• 250 ml double creamfull-fat, for the silkiest sauce
• 80 ml chicken stock
• 70 g Parmesanfinely grated
• 80 g baby spinach
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Sear the chicken

   Season the chicken breasts well on both sides. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes, then sear the chicken for 4-5 minutes a side, until deeply golden. Take it out while the centre is still slightly underdone. It finishes in the sauce.

   4 small chicken breasts · 1 tbsp olive oil

   Undercook the searIt gets four more minutes in the sauce. Out early, and it stays juicy.

2. 02

   Bloom the garlic gently

   Turn the heat down to low and give the pan 30 seconds to cool. Add the butter, the 4 grated garlic cloves and 1 tsp of the oil from the sun-dried tomato jar, and cook for 30 seconds only, until fragrant and barely coloured. Grated garlic in a hot pan turns bitter in seconds, and that spoonful of tomato oil carries the savoury, almost smoky flavour right through the sauce.

   25 g butter · 4 garlic cloves

3. 03

   Build the sauce

   Add the sliced sun-dried tomatoes and the stock and let it bubble for 2 minutes, scraping the base, until reduced by about half. Pour in the 250 ml cream and simmer gently for 4-5 minutes until it thickly coats the back of a spoon. Reducing the stock before the cream goes in concentrates the flavour instead of diluting it.

   100 g sun-dried tomatoes · 80 ml chicken stock · 250 ml double cream

   Reduce the stock firstCream into unreduced stock gives a thin sauce you then boil hard, which is how cream splits.

4. 04

   Finish the sauce and the chicken

   Stir in the Parmesan off a rolling boil so it melts smoothly rather than splitting. Return the chicken with any resting juices and simmer for 3-4 minutes until cooked through to 75 C, then fold in the spinach and let it wilt for a minute.

   70 g Parmesan · 80 g baby spinach

   Parmesan off the boilAt a rolling simmer the cheese tightens and the sauce turns grainy.

5. 05

   Sharpen and serve

   Take the pan off the heat, add the lemon juice and a good grind of black pepper, and spoon the sauce generously over the chicken. Serve with something to mop it up.

   1 tsp lemon juice