savory sunday // chicken with white wine, cream and mushroom sauce
Happy Sunday! I was a little perplexed on what to make this week for the blog, but I decided on this recipe for several reasons. First, I consider it to be a "special occasion" dinner in that it's more complex than your normal weeknight fare, and second, it's really really delicious rich. The good part about that is that it makes for excellent leftovers. The bad part is that if you are like me you shouldn't eat a ton or you will feel like a walking heart attack. Hey mom? You're gonna love this one.So why a special occasion dinner? Because this week is Valentine's Day! And while some people (me) prefer NOT to cook on this day, I know others who do enjoy making a special meal. So here you go.First off, here's what you're going to need:• 1/2 stick butter• splash of olive oil• 2 onions, diced• 1/4 lb prosciutto• 4 cloves garlic• 8 pieces of chicken on bone with skin• 1 large container (or two small) of sliced mushrooms (I use baby bellas)• 1 cup cream. I used half and half and it was SUPER RICH. So be your own guide on this one...• 2 cups white wine• salt and pepper• fresh flat leaf parsley
Ok, are we ready to begin? First we start by heating the butter and oil in the pan until hot and then browning the chicken in the pan, flipping halfway through.
While waiting for the chicken to brown, chop up your onions and garlic.
Once browned, remove the chicken (but leave the fat!) from the pan and toss in the onions, garlic and prosciutto.
You want to cook this until most of the pork fat is released and the onions are starting to soften and brown. Once that happens, remove this mixture to another bowl (again, leave the fat!) and toss in your mushrooms.
Once the mushrooms have lost their liquid and are browning nicely, add the onions and prosciutto back to the pan. YUM.
Cook for just a minute or two, and then add the chicken on top of this. Oh, and add in that wine. Two cups is a lot, but it is soooo good. And salt and pepper it to taste.
Now, doesn't that smell fantastic? You want to simmer this mixture (covered) for about 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. You just try to keep the dogs (and men) out of the kitchen at this point.
Next, uncover and raise the heat as you add in the cream (or half-and-half). You want this mixture nice and warm and mixed, so cook for about 10 more minutes (if you can stand it).
Add the parsley, and you're done! Now, as you can see here, I had mine as is, served in a bowl. But Jamie had his over rice, and it looked divine as the rice sopped up all those buttery juices. Also? I ate about 1/4 of this bowl here. Have I mentioned this dish is kinda rich? Yeah.Aaaand now the calories. Ahem. This dish, if divided up for 6 servings (which is about what we did) is 499 calories if you use half and half and not full heavy cream. Also, that's without rice. Again, this is a special occasion dinner.For your internet share today, how about a fascinating article on how salt works to make food less bitter, more sweet and even increase aromas? Cool, eh?