Sauteed chicken with a lemon and wine pan jus

Prepare everything first: cut a piece of butter, measure about 50 ml of wine, a tablespoon of oil, dice a tablespoon of shallots. Chop two or three sprigs of parsley at the last minute.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil with the butter in a cast iron pan over medium to medium-high heat. Start lower if unsure, so the butter does not burn.

Put the pre-seasoned chicken pieces in and cook gently and steadily so they colour and give up their juices. A good ten or twelve minutes or more on the first side.

Cook to core temperature rather than to a time. The safe zone for chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit, a bit more than 70 degrees Celsius; check with a food thermometer.

Once browned, turn and continue on the second side, slowly extracting and caramelising the juices.

variation: add a few twigs of thyme to the oil and butter and baste the chicken from time to time so the top does not dry.

At about 23 minutes the core is over 70, reading 73. Turn off the heat and move the chicken to a tray.

Add pepper to the pan juices and pour the oil over the chicken.

Put the heat back on medium to high and cook the shallots fast without burning them.

Deglaze with the wine, scraping up the dry caramelised brown bits, and cook a minute or so to drive off the acidity.

Add the juice of half a lemon, stir once and the instant sauce is done.

Pour the chicken jus and butter over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley and a little salt.