Chicken fingers is the kid’s favorite dish, and let’s say… I am an eternal kid… No shame here… Those chicken bits are the perfect comfort food, or home feeling food… Especially with this brown sauce, fries and vinegar coleslaw (recipe), it brings me right back to my childhood, more precisely, the beloved French Canadian “Rotisserie Restaurant” called “St-Hubert”. Every French Canadian would tell you… this place taste like home… it’s nothing fancy just nice and simple roasted chicken a 1000 different ways. My favorite dish was the chicken fingers obviously… as a kid… until today… I mean, it’s an emotional meal this one, and yes everytime I go back to Canada, I have to make a stop at St-Hubert to get myself those chicken fingers.
The famous brown sauce is the secret of that restaurant, it is served with every single dishes of theirs. My version which is delicious, although I could never reproduce perfectly their secret sauce. I find this sauce such a healthier and tastier way to eat your chicken fingers and fries. It contain practically no fat, only a reduction of a chicken broth, some wine, extra black pepper, and a little thickener, in my case I’ve used a sugar free cacao paste to thickens it and give it a nice dark color… Delicious stuff! Also, since I live by the Mediterranean sea, I had to add a little thyme and garlic into my chicken crust to give it an extra punch.
So let’s get back into our childhood!
Chicken fingers St-Hubert Style
Makes 10 fingers (3-4 portions)
Ingredients
The chicken
- 2 chicken breast cut into long strips
- 400g bread crumbs (blend your old dry bread… even better)
- 200g flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp thyme
- Salt, pepper
The brown sauce
- 1 1/2 litre of homemade chicken broth
- 200ml red wine *optional
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 30 g sugar free chocolate (cacao paste) or 2 tsp of cornstarch diluted into 4 tbsp of cold water (thickener of your choice)
- 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp of butter
- salt, pepper
Directions
Bring oven to 180°C (350F)
- Start by reducing your chicken broth, wine into a sauce pan, (the larger the plan the faster to reduce) medium-high heat (this can take 45 minutes and more… long but worth it)
- Make fries (see recipe here)
- In a blender, blend your left overs of dry bread, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper (if you don’t have old bread, just use panko or normal bread crumbs)
- Cut the chicken into thick long strips of 3cm (1 breast make about 5 strips)
- Add the bread crumbs mix to a big plate
- Add the flour to an other big plate
- Beat the eggs into a bowl
- Take a strips of chicken and cover in this order: first into the flour, then eggs, finally into the bread crumb
- Add to the chicken fingers to a grill or baking sheet at 180°C (350F) for 25-30 minutes, turn mid-way
- When the sauce is reduce and almost coat the back of a spoon, add the vinegar and thickener of your choice
- Adjust the seasoning (should have a good pepper taste)
- When the consistency is good (stick to the spoon) stop the fire
- Add the butter and mix well
- Pour the sauce into a presentation cup for each portion, serve the chicken fingers
Serve with a nice vinegar coleslaw and fries. Enjoy!
