Lock Down Chicken in a Mushroom and White Wine Sauce
Hello, how is everyone doing? This is my first post since October 2019, what has happened since then… has there been a Pandemic? The last three years have been shit haven’t they (sorry I just swore) everyone’s been affected by COVID, Brexit and an inept Tory Government (sorry not being political)
Anyway, I’m not here to make you feel rubbish, there’s enough in the world to do that without me adding to it. What’s news with you? Throughout lockdown I’ve been doing more cooking, as you know being on oxygen 24/7 really limited my ability to cook but I’ve recaptured my love using the slow cooker…. That being said, this isn’t a slow cooker recipe this was from when I was cooking on a naked flame.
Ok where do I start on this recipe, it’s easy, it uses pretty accessible stuff (let’s be honest who hasn’t got wine in their house these days). I came up with the idea from watching something on television, and the recipe they were cooking was similar but using pork. Here we go, let’s see what you think?
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 x onion
2tsp Lazy Garlic (not pictured)
2 x Chicken Breasts
1 x Glass of White Wine
1 x Jar of Dried Mushrooms
2tsp x Wholegrain Mustard
½ pint Chicken Stock
2tsp Dried Tarragon
2tsp Dried Sage
2-3Tbs of Crème Fraiche
Salt, Pepper and Olive Oil
Step 1 Firstly preheat the Oven to 2000C/fan 1800C. Then put the dried mushrooms in a bowl or jug and reheat using the packet’s instructions. I used a tub of Dried Mixed Forest Mushrooms, they were lovely, a nice mix. If you can’t get dried mushrooms, don’t worry about it but it does add to the flavour – also I sometimes just have dried Porcini mushrooms, they work too.
For those of you who follow the blog you’ll know mushrooms are a new thing to me, I’ve only just in the last few years started appreciating them. I’ve always loved the mushroom taste, but couldn’t stick the texture. I was talking to my new carer Megan about this last night. Mushrooms are definitely something you grow in to.
Don’t throw all the mushroom juice away (or whatever it’s called) we’ll use that later on.
Step 2 Place the chicken breasts in an oven proof dish and pass to someone else to cook for you… no not really, but that’s what I did. You’ll all know that chicken scares me, it’s as scary as a pig with a flick knife, so, I generally give it to my wonderful mother to cook for me.
Like most mothers of a certain generation she is an instinctive cook, so I’m never sure how long she cooks them for but this recipe on the BBC Good Food website https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/baked-chicken-lemon says to preheat the oven to 2000C/fan 1800Cand cook for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. You can check this by sticking a knife into the centre of each breast to make sure the juices run clear. Rest for 5 mins before serving. Before you cook them season them with salt and pepper and rub in some olive oil.
Step 3 Gently fry the onions and garlic, add the onions first and fry them until the start to soften then add the garlic. Remember your not looking for burger onions just get them so they’re soft and yielding.
* This is the one thing I do miss about not cooking on a naked flame… onions! I can’t get them right in the slow cooker, my nephew Ben and my sister-in-law Sharon told me to cook things on high, which is spot on and the onions are much better on high, but I overcooked my beef for dinner last week…. I need to look in to this more!
Step 4 Place a stock cube in a bowl/jug and add 300ml of boiling water, since writing this recipe I’ve started using the Knorr Stock Pots but this was an Oxo cube… other types are available of course!
To the stock add 2tsp Dried Tarragon, 2tsp Dried Sage, Salt and Pepper and the white wine, give all that a stir and set aside. This, I find is the best way to evenly distribute all the flavours throughout the dish, rather than adding them one by one.
Step 4 add 2tsp x Wholegrain Mustard and stir thoroughly, I love wholegrain mustard, you could use Dijon mustard here but I find it too pungent for this recipe. If you want to know more about the different types of mustards available, you could have a “mustard off” like my niece Alice and I… or you could visit https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/types-of-mustard
Step 5 Now add the rehydrated mushrooms and stir thoroughly, give them all time to get to know each other and have a mingle with the other flavours that are at the party. A quick tip is to take the mushrooms out of the bowl with a spoon retaining the liquid, once you’ve done that you can sieve the mushroom juice. I would do this by placing some kitchen paper in a sieve and then pouring it through, there’s sometimes grit in the juice, this will hopefully catch that. Once you’ve done this add it to the sauce.
Step 5 take the chicken out of the oven and set aside; you can cover it with foil to keep it warm. Remember to check if it’s cooked by sticking a knife in to see if the juices are clear… remember you don’t want raw chicken 😆 !
Step 6 add the Crème Fraiche to the sauce and stir it through thoroughly. Allow the sauce to warm through thoroughly, taste it and season it if it necessary.
Step 7 Once the sauce has warmed through there’s a number of things you can do with it, blitz it up and use it as a soup have it with some salmon. You can also allow it to cool down and the freeze it and use it on a different day.
Step 8 I’ve served this with some microwaveable rice, place the chicken breast on the plate and then top it with the sauce. I topped it with a sprig of parsley because my mother loves some greenery on a plate.
You could eat this with mashed potatoes, I’m surprised looking back that I chose rice as this would be lush with mash. I’d probably sprinkle some chives/finely chopped spring onions and some chopped flat leaf parsley.
In 2021 I sadly lost my father, I’m not going to wallow in this post, it’s not appropriate. But as you know my father was a plain eater, he didn’t like spices or flavours, he loved my Comforting Classics Shepherd’s Pie, I’m sure he thought it was better than my mother’s lol, he would have also loved my Comforting Classics – Cheats Fish Pie.
I’ve left the Labour Party now thankfully, so I hopefully will have more time on my hands. I’ve got a lovely Salmon dish coming up called Alun’s Microwave Salmon. ‘
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If you like this recipe you may also like my 6 Nations of Food – (Italian) Mediterranean Chicken and Cauliflower, it’s got a lovely taste on it, I’m a big fan of chicken, it’s cheap, versatile and easy to cook. If you’re a Mushroom Fan then you’ll love my Pheasant in a Porcini Mushroom and White Wine Sauce with Aromat flavoured Couscous, there’s some similar flavours in this, you could change the Pheasant with chicken.
I can’t believe it’s nearly three years since my last post, since then there’s been a pandemic, I’ve lost two friends as well as my father, I’ve gone bald, yes bald and grown my hair back again! Lots of water has passed by since then.
I’m going to try (health allowing) to do them more regularly now, at least one every few weeks, I’m also going to try and do some videos, I know Greg likes them! I’m not making any promises though, if you want to view one of my videos you can do so by visiting my Youtube channel
I’ve decided to give up chocolate for four weeks, not for charity, just to try and see if I can do it, and hopefully help lighten my stomach a bit… although I’m not holding my breath on either counts lol.
See you soon
Richard
