Joy of Cooking 2: Chicken on a Bed of Mushrooms

Simple and surprisingly flavorful chicken dinner. For the most part it was also a fix it & forget it dinner. Love those!

This was one of those meals that felt like after making it a couple times, it will be old hat. And that you could throw it together for unexpected company and be happy with the results. Maybe not blown away, but really happy.

Season the chicken with Salt, Pepper, and rosemary (or herb of your choice).

Create a " bed of mushrooms" at base of casserole dish on top of some EVOO.

Add wine - about half way up the mushrooms.

Pile the seasoned chicken on the mushrooms and wine.

Bake!

Pull out the cooked chicken and mushrooms, and place in a dish. Any old dish will do.

Pour the remaining wine/chicken jus into a pan, add cream. Reduce to a delicious pan gravy.

A Few Pro Tips:

• Skin on, chicken preferred
• More importantly because this is such a low ingredient dish, the higher quality of chicken the better.
• I used bone-in, but will go boneless next time for ease of the meal - but the flavor was really nice.
• Extra broth or wine to extend the gravy at the end of the meal, as desired.
• Use a 9X9 casserole dish, if you have one
• If your gravy is taking forever to cook - maybe make sure that the burner is on... just a suggestion. Not from personal experience or anything - just throwing that out there, just in case.
• I served the above with: pasta and roasted Brussels sprouts - and loved it.
• But ... I had leftovers with tortellini and that was brilliant.

Ingredients

6 chicken breast halves (with skin)

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or rosemary or herb of your choice) 

Salt and ground black pepper  

6 large Portobello or 12 to 18 shiitake or button mushrooms (Enough to cover bottom of the dish)

2 Tablespoon minced garlic

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 Cups dry white wine

Olive oil

Sauce:

Enough water or Chicken Stock to measure 1 cup

1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream (optional)

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Rinse, pat dry, and trim any excess fat from chicken.
3. Season with thyme (or herb of your choice), season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
4. Lightly oil a 9 x 9-inch baking pan or shallow baking dish just large enough to hold the chicken pieces in a single layer.
5. Remove the stems from mushrooms. Arrange the mushrooms, stem side up, overlapping if necessary, in the pan. Sprinkle with garlic and Salt and ground black pepper to taste.
6. Pour white wine over the mushrooms.
7. Lay the chicken breasts skin side up on top of the mushrooms. Brush lightly with olive oil.
8. Bake, uncovered, until the chicken skin turns golden brown, about 20 minutes. Check to see that there is some liquid in the pan; if not, add more wine. Baste the chicken with pan juices and turn the pieces over. Bake until the chicken is firm and fully cooked, 10 to 20 minutes more.
9. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken and mushrooms to a platter, arranging the chicken skin side up on the mushrooms. Pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and skim the fat off the top with a spoon.
10. Add Chicken Stock (and extra wine if you're so inclined) and cream.  
11. Boil the sauce over high heat until reduced to a syrupy consistency. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Spoon sauce over the chicken, sprinkle the chicken with minced fresh parsley.
12. Enjoy

Joy of Cooking: 2
Julia Child: 1
Recipe Learning Remaining: 37

Julia Childs Recipe 1

Let the Julia Child cooking Begin!

 

Fondue de Poulet a la Crème (Chicken Simmered with Cream and Onions)

  

I'm not attempting to do a Julia & Julia type thing here. I am, however, trying to expand my cooking repertoire and cooking confidence.

 

I want to face down a few recipes that intimidate me. I want to cook something that's not from the foodnetwork. I want to learn some traditional recipes and gain some new staples.

 

This is the perfect entry level recipe that my mom selected on a recent visit!  There weren't too many ingredients, and not too many complicated steps. The title says it all - Chicken simmered with cream and onions - and it cooks almost just that easily!

 

The result was incredibly delicious. The chicken looks bland and understated, but the flavor is rich & extravagant. I would absolutely serve this to guests at a dinner party.

 

How'd this first Julia Child Chicken get made, you ask? Let me show you.

 

The trick to this recipe was not letting anything brown.



 

 

Cook Chicken for 5 minutes, turning and not browning.

Take out the chicken, cook diced onions for about 5 minutes - without browning.

Add the chicken back in, and cook some more. Still no browning! Of course.

Add salt, pepper, curry, and cream. Bring to a boil & then let simmer for 30-35 minutes. Turning once.
After that, take out the chicken and bring back to a boil to reduce the sauce by at least half. Add lemon juice, more cream, salt & pepper to taste. Et Voila!



The Final result. Delicious!

Serve with: Mme. Childs recommends serving with Risotto, but I went with the classy boil in bag brown rice. Can't rush the culinary magic. This was magnificent, I already can't wait to try it again.

If I were to do it again, I'd also serve it with a crunchy green - broccolini, asparagus, or zucchini.


Ingredients
 

• 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. of cut-up frying chicken
• I used thighs - I used skin on, bone in, but would use skinless next time
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 1/2 cups diced yellow onions (I used sweet onions)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp white or black pepper 
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 1/3 cup cognac, Calvados, Madeira, or port; or 3/4 cup dry white wine, or 1/2 cup dry white vermouth (I used whatever white I had on hand)
• 3 cups whipping cream brought to a boil in a small sauce pan 
• Salt and pepper, drops of lemon juice
• 3 to 4 tbsp whipping cream (used to finish the sauce at the end of cooking).
• Parsley

 

Recipe

• Dry the chicken thoroughly. Turn it in hot butter for 4 to 5 minutes, until the meat has stiffened slightly but has not browned. Remove to a side dish.
• Stir the onions into the butter in the pan.
• Cover and cook very slowly for 5 minutes, or until the onions are fairly tender but not browned. 
• Return the chicken the casserole pan, cover and cook slowly for 10 minutes until chicken swells slightly and stiffens, but does not brown.
• Turn it once during this period. 
• Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and curry powder.
• Pour in the spirits or wine, raise heat, and boil rapidly until the liquid has almost entirely evaporated.
• Pour on the hot cream, bring to a simmer, baste the chicken and cover the casserole. Maintain at low simmer for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and its juices run a clear yellow when the meat is pricked with a fork. The cream may look slightly curdled, but will be smoothed out later.
• Take the chicken out and place in a hot platter, cover, and keep warm for 5 minutes while finishing the sauce. Almost done!
• Skim fat off the sauce, then boil rapidly, stirring until it reduces enough to coat the spoon lightly. Correct seasoning, adding lemon juice to taste.
• Turn off the heat & beat in enough extra cream (by spoonful) to smooth out the sauce.
• Pour the sauce over the chicken, decorate with parsley and serve to the hungry masses.

Thanks Mom for your recipe selection & all the help!

JC Ticker
Julia Child Recipe: 1
JC Recipe 2 of 40.