Western Menu
Chicken with Mushrooms
This dish is in the French style with lots of butter, a helping of heavy cream, and a dollop of white wine. The techniques used are gleaned from Larousse Gastrominique, the French encyclopedia of cooking. This book is written for the institutional chef, and much knowledge of cooking on the part of the reader is assumed. The recipes are restaurant size rather than family size, so I typically quarter them.
- 4 boneless skinless Chicken Breast pieces
- 1 stick Butter
- ¼ cup minced Shallots
- 2 cloves minced Garlic
- 1½ cups Chicken Broth
- 1 teaspoon whole Thyme
- ½ teaspoon whole Rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground White Pepper
- 4 Tablespoons White Flour (whole wheat won’t work)
- 10 medium-sized Mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
- ½ cup Dry White Wine
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
Brown the chicken in 2 Tablespoons butter, then remove it from the pan. Drain any juices you collected back into the pan. Sauté the shallots and garlic in the same pan until soft, adding a little more butter if needed. Add chicken broth, thyme, rosemary and white pepper and bring to a boil. return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat once it boils a second time. Cover and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.
Sauté the mushrooms in 2 Tablespoons butter. Cook them lightly, because they will be subjected to more heat when they are mixed with the sauce.
The best French style sauces are thickened with a roux. Roux is flour cooked in butter over low heat. It has a better texture than and lacks the raw grain flavor of plain flour or cornstarch. Melt 3 Tablespoons butter in a small pan and add the flour. Turn the heat down as low as it will go and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove chicken from pan and keep in a warm place. Add wine to the pan and bring to a simmer. Put the roux in a saucepan over medium heat. Vigorously whisk the liquid into the roux, adding it slowly so it doesn’t clump. Once the roux is blended into the liquid you need only stir occasionally. Continue to simmer uncovered in order to reduce the volume of the sauce and to thicken it. Continue reducing the sauce until it’s as thick as you want it to be.
Slowly stir the cream into the sauce. Once it is well blended, strain the sauce through a wire mesh tea strainer. This will make its texture silky smooth. Add the chicken to the sauce and heat through. Finally, add the mushrooms, which will heat through faster than the chicken. When all the ingredients are hot, the Chicken with Mushrooms is ready to serve.
This dish is best served with a starch and a vegetable. I recommend steamed baby potatoes and steamed green beans.
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