To kickoff season one of our Meet Your Local series, we are diving face first into Chef Matthew Shepard’s Rosemary Chicken. Spiked with dijon mustard and white wine, this tangy chicken dish will become a family favorite in no time.
Matthew Shepard is the Executive Chef at The McNinch House in Uptown Charlotte.
While Shepard primarily concentrates on French continental cuisine, he steps things up a notch by adding a hefty dose of southern flare to his recipes.
Cool Fact: He personally grows most of their produce on-site and his menu changes seasonally. I can’t even keep a plant alive in my home… and this guy grows an entire garden to feed the city. I was beyond impressed to learn that he has such a green thumb.
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The base ingredients for this recipe are pretty simple. All you need is salt, rosemary, white pepper, shallot, dijon mustard and garlic. Add a splash of white wine and heavy cream to your skillet and you’re golden. It’s that simple! Serve this with my roasted fingerling potatoes and you’ve got yourself a killer meal.
As you know… I’m all about quick and easy dinner recipes.
So the fact that this can be cooked in one skillet makes it a winner-winner, chicken dinner. We used a grill pan to achieve those pretty little grill marks, but that step isn’t mandatory (unless you’re trying to impress your date?).
Now lets chat a bit about this smooth, luscious cream sauce.
I was simply blown away by this dijon-cream deliciousness.
Do yourself a favor and grab a few slices of bread when you’re ready to eat. This way you can sop up every last drop of that super-flavorful sauce. No one will judge you if you happen to lick your plate clean; I did.
Go ahead and serve this dish with a side of my Roasted Brussels Sprouts to make your meal complete.
- 4 Chicken Breasts (about 2 pounds)
- 2 tbsp. Butter
- 1 Shallot, sliced
- 1 Garlic Clove, sliced
- ¼ cup White Wine
- 1 Rosemary Sprig, chopped
- 3-4 Rosemary Sprigs, to taste
- ¼ - ½ cup Dijon Mustard, to taste
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- Salt + White Pepper, to taste
- Sear the outside of the chicken breasts on a grill pan to create grill marks. Do not fully cook. This step is optional but recommended.
- Melt the butter and sauté the shallots in a large skillet over medium heat.
- After a few minutes, add the garlic and continue to sauté for another minute.
- Deglaze the skillet with white wine. Add Dijon, cream, chopped rosemary sprig, and a dash of salt and white pepper.
- Let the cream sauce simmer for 2 minutes and then add the chicken back to the skillet and cover. Add more rosemary sprigs here if you prefer a deeper rosemary flavor.
- Allow the chicken to simmer until it's fully cooked, about 10-12 minutes. The sauce will thicken as the chicken cooks.
- Season with additional salt and white pepper, to taste, if necessary.
- Enjoy!
Let’s chat a little bit about my multi-talented friend, Matthew.
Matthew is a North Carolina native and recently celebrated his third year with The McNinch House. The details and execution behind his AAA Diamond Award winning menu is purely magnificent. The refined palate behind Shepard’s cooking methods allow guests to experience a polished seasonal menu sprinkled with year-round specialties.
If you’d like to visit Chef Matthew Shepard at The McNinch House, make sure to book your reservations by clicking here.
Meet Your Local: Charlotte Chefs
This season of Meet Your Local is highlighting simple, scratch-made meals created by some of my favorite culinary professionals in Charlotte. Here you’ll find a behind-the-scenes spotlight of their favorite recipes to cook at home.
Cooking is a part of everyone’s life, including trained chefs! We hope that these recipes encourage you to get in your kitchen and whip up a little somethin’ special from scratch. After all, cooking shouldn’t be complicated (it should be fun)!
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