Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast with Pan Sauce

1. 1Salt the breasts on both sides and leave them on a rack at room temperature for 20 minutes. Pat the skin completely dry just before cooking.
2. 2Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat and lay the breasts in skin-down. Press each one flat with a spatula for the first 20 seconds so the whole skin meets the pan.
3. 3Cook without moving them for 8–10 minutes, until the skin is deep gold and releases on its own. If it sticks when you lift it, it is not ready — the skin lets go when it has browned.
4. 4Turn them over and slide the pan into an oven at 200°C fan for 12–15 minutes, until a thermometer in the thickest part reads 63°C.
5. 5Move the chicken to a board, skin-up, and rest for 10 minutes. It will climb to about 68°C, which is the point at which breast is cooked through and still juicy. Cook it to 75°C in the oven and it will be dry whatever you do next.
6. 6Pour off all but a tablespoon of fat. Soften the shallot for 2 minutes, add the garlic for 30 seconds, then pour in the wine and scrape hard at the brown bits stuck to the pan — that fond is the sauce's entire flavour.
7. 7Let the wine reduce by half, add the stock, mustard and thyme, and simmer until it coats a spoon, about 5 minutes.
8. 8Off the heat, whisk in the cold butter a few cubes at a time until the sauce turns glossy. Stir in the parsley, add any juices from the resting board, and pour around the chicken.

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