We need to try this delicious chicken dish ASAP.
Reviewed by Dietitian Madeline Peck, RDN, CDN
Key Points
- Tom Holland’s favorite comfort meal is his chef brother Sam’s Chicken Veronique.
- Chicken Veronique combines shredded chicken, creamy sauce and roasted grapes.
- His brother serves it with dauphinoise potatoes, which are served with a garlicky sauce.
There’s something incredibly comforting about a chicken dinner. Whether it’s a roasted chicken with all the fixin’s or a flavorful chicken piccata served over pasta, a savory meal made with chicken channels the comforts of a home-cooked meal.
Just ask Tom Holland, who recently appeared with his The Odyssey co-star Matt Damon on ENJOY Cooking’s The Pizza Interview. While Holland admitted he often orders takeout, the 30-year-old actor said he’s attempting to get more comfortable in the kitchen. “I am trying to cook more and more,” he shared. “It’s one of my things I’m trying to do this year.”
But 2026 is a busy year for Holland, whose film Spider-Man: Brand New Day also premieres this month. In fact, when the interviewer asked Holland what dish he’d want to eat if he’d been on an odyssey of his own and was returning home, the meal he shared wasn’t something he or his wife, Zendaya, cook for themselves.
“My brother Sam makes this dish called a Chicken Veronique,” said Holland, “which is a shredded chicken in a creamy sauce. And then he hand peels green grapes and roasts them, and he serves it on a dauphinoise potato bottom. It is unbelievable. That’s what I would have.”
Holland’s younger brother, Sam Hollandis a chef, so it’s no surprise he’s well-versed in French cooking. Chicken Veronique is a classic French dish made with a cream sauce and grapes, taking its name from the traditional French culinary practice of adding grapes to a dish. And while the entree is served hot, Ina Garden makes a Veronique-style chicken salad that’s perfect for summer meals.
As for those dauphinoise potatoes? The French side dish is made by stacking thinly sliced potatoes and baking them in a creamy, garlicky sauce until tender.
As for Holland’s co-star, Damon, who plays Odysseus to his Telemachus in The Odysseyhe’d go in a different direction after a long journey. “I was on an odyssey, so I’m on a boat, I’m eating fish,” Damon reasoned. “I’d probably eat a good steak when I got home.”
But what about the onscreen father-son duo’s pizza order? “My go-to as a struggling actor was one of those Domino’s thin-crust pizzas with pepperoni, green pepper and onion,” said Damon, “so I’m tempted to do just that.”
Holland, who fell in love with an Italian pizzeria while filming The Odysseysaid he’d try to replicate a pizza he loved while filming on location in Italy. “When we were filming the movie, we shot in this place called Favignana; it’s a really gorgeous island just off the coast of Sicily,” he explained. “There was this great pizzeria there, and they made this fiery pepperoni pizza … I ate it every single night.”
Holland had his own question for Damon as they topped their pizzas during the interview, asking whether Damon prefers a block of cheese or pre-shredded cheese. Damon’s response? On taco night, he opts for the simplicity of a bag of pre-shredded cheese to keep things easy.
Holland was quick to share his own appreciation for being able to buy grated cheese at the grocery store in the U.S. “We don’t really do that in the U.K.,” he said. “In the U.K., you buy, like, a block of cheese and you grate it yourself, but when I came to America for the first time, I was like, that is so handy.”
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