The other night our friends Allan Stanley and Eileen Hennemann came over for an impromptu barbecue. Allan, who is a fabulous cook, brought marinated skinless boneless chicken breasts and a gorgeous reduction sauce. He reduced the sauce even further while the chicken grilled and smoked over charcoal and soaked cherry wood chips. It was unbelievably good! Eileen took these wonderful photos.

The sauce preparation is based on the reduction technique Allan learned during the course he took a few years ago at the prestigious Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, England. (www.leiths.com). Allan explains that it is a particularly useful technique if you are unable to pan-sear your meat to produce fond – the lovely caramelized bits left on the bottom of the pan – that are typically deglazed from the pan with added liquid.

Marinade

Ingredients:

4 tbsp olive oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tomato chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste (Allan likes to use tomato paste that comes in a tube, as opposed to opening a can for just a small amount)

4-6 garlic cloves minced

4 green onions chopped

2 shallots chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped

1 tbsp rosemary chopped

1 tbsp tarragon chopped

1 tbsp basil chopped

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp honey

Pinch of cayenne

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Whisk together oil, vinegar, tomato, tomato paste and garlic until emulsified. Stir in remaining ingredients. Marinate for a few hours or overnight. Makes enough marinade for four skinless, boneless chicken breasts or four barbecue-cut pork chops.

Reduction Sauce

Ingredients:

*Mirepoix – 1 cup coarsely chopped onions, ½ cup each carrots and celery

2 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tbsp tomato paste

½ cup white wine or Madiera

4 cups stock or apple cider reduction (4 cups apple cider reduced to 1 cup)

1 sprig each of thyme and rosemary, whole but bruised

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp butter or cream

* Mirepoix is a combination of chopped carrots, celery and onions used to add flavor and aroma to stocks, sauces, soups and other foods. The proportions (by weight) for making mirepoix are 50% onions, 25% carrots and 25% celery.

To avoid additives and preservatives in this recipe, be sure to use balsamic vinegar and wine with no sulfites added. Also be sure to check your Dijon and butter for artificial flavours or colours.

Preparation:

Typically, you produce fond by searing your meat, which is the ideal method, providing you don’t burn the fond. “That is nothing but carbon, and will ruin all your efforts by bringing a bitter taste to the sauce,” Allan explains.

This recipe produces fond without searing meat. Brown the mirepoix in 2 tbsp olive oil with salt and pepper. Add the tomato paste and in about eight minutes this will turn a lovely russet colour. Add the wine and reduce until you have about a quarter of the original amount. Add stock and herbs. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve or, preferably, a chinois, which is a very fine-meshed conical-shaped sieve made especially for straining sauces to produce a very smooth texture. Be sure to use a wooden spoon to press on the solids to extract every bit of the delicious sauce. “Lots of flavour and thickening comes from this straining process,” says Allan. The herbs can stay in the final sauce, because you will be spooning it over the chicken.

Put the gorgeous liquid into a small saucepan and reduce further until it is the consistency you want (you can do this while the chicken is grilling). Keep the sauce thin to “flood” the plate or thicker to coat the chicken. At this point you can add a little mustard (this step is optional) to the sauce and then can finish it by whisking in (off heat) a drop of cream and or butter, which makes the sauce shiny. “Be very, very careful with the salt until the very last to taste,” adds Allan. Top the delicious sauce with a garnish of chopped parsley.

There are endless variations for this sauce. “For example, you can omit the cider reduction and add a tablespoon of apricot jam to the final sauce,” says Allan. “This sauce also works well for beef; just use beef stock instead of chicken stock and don’t use the cider reduction.”