Creamy Mushroom Chicken

I love making a dish that is so good you don't mind having it for several meals in a row (i.e. dinners in a row). It's even better if the dish is relatively quick and easy to make. This is one of those dishes.

And *gasp* it doesn't even have garlic!

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

2 - 3 pounds of chicken cut into large cubes
1 pound crimini mushrooms sliced
2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup white wine (preferably sparkling or champagne)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups water

Chop dried porcinis into very small pieces so they need less time to soak and don't have to be chopped while wet. Soak porcini mushrooms in two cups of boiling water for 10-20 minutes (about as long as it takes you to cut up the chicken and mushrooms and brown them).

Sprinkle salt over chicken chunks and let sit for five minutes.

Heat olive oil in large skillet or everyday pan until olive oil is hot and leggy. Brown chicken and remove from pan. Brown mushrooms and remove from pan.

Deglaze pan with wine. Add mushroom soup one can at a time and whisk thoroughly to combine before adding the next can. Rinse cans out with 4-5 ounces of water. Add porcini fluid and porcinis. Add chicken and mushrooms. Cook until chicken is done.

Serve over rice or noodles.

I used cream of mushroom soup as the base because I didn't want to spend huge amounts of time cooking a sauce down. Between the mushrooms in the soup, the mushrooms I added, and the porcinis, the sauce turned out amazingly rich and full of mushroom-y goodness.

I will confess I used a sparkling white wine because I had some left from dinner the night before. It was nicely crisp and dry without being sour and supported the mushroom flavor wonderfully. I think it also helped the sauce be a bit lighter, though I suspect that was mostly in my mind.

Peas work really nicely as a vegetable to serve with the sauce -- I thawed the peas and mixed them into the sauce on my plate. They gave wonderful little bursts of fresh sweetness in the sauce.

Enjoy!

Broccoli and Havarti - a Match Made in Heaven

Most cheese sauces served with broccoli are cheddar-based. I've gotten a little tired of the same-old, same-old, so I went looking for something new. I wanted a creamy cheese that had a strong flavor without being cloying. My eye fell on some Havarti in the cheese case and I realized I had my cheese sauce.

Broccoli in Havarti Cheese Sauce

1 or 2 crowns broccoli, cut into spears
8 oz Havarti cheese (I selected a creamy Havarti, but this will
work as well with regular)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vodka
1 cup 2% milk
1 tablespoon butter (reduce if the milk is whole, increase if the milk is skim)

Slice cheese into small pieces and mix with cornstarch. Havarti does not grate well.

Heat milk and butter until butter is melted. Add vodka and cheese mixture. Heat in a double boiler over medium heat until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens.

Meanwhile, steam broccoli for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on how done you like your broccoli.

Spoon sauce over broccoli.

Oh my, did this work. The cheese sauce was wonderfully rich and creamy, but not overwhelming. The cabbage notes in the broccoli cut through the cheese sauce, but only supported the green notes of the chlorophyll (if the broccoli is overcooked, the sense of the chlorophyll will disappear).

This sauce will also work well for cauliflower. Unfortunately, this was a lot of cheese sauce for two people, but the sauce reheats well with the addition of a little more milk and brief bursts in the microwave.

Sauces

Sauces are something that are too often given too little thought by the home cook. I'm not talking about spaghetti sauce or gravy, but about sauces that garnish the dish and add yet another dimension of flavor. I know a number of cooks who thinks sauces are hard or time-consuming. Not always! I often whip up a quick sauce while the main dish is cooking.

My staple ingredients for many sauces are orange juice, soy sauce, wine, and balsamic vinegar. Some days I'm in the mood for a simple wine or balsamic reduction to go with a vegetable; other days I want something to make a dish sparkle.

Reductions
Reductions are simple: put your liquid ingredients into a saucier or sauce pan (though a small skillet works well for small amounts of fluid). Simmer on med-low until the sauce has reduced to the consistency you want, usually by at least half. If you are reducing vinegar, make sure you have your exhaust fan going well -- heated vinegar is a bit sharp and will sting your eyes and nose. Once the food is done, drizzle the sauce over it.

These first two recipes work nicely on vegetables. I've used the second two on meat with nice results. I add salt, if necessary, afterwards, because reductions concentrate the flavors.

Orange-Soy Sauce
1/2 cup of orange juice, fresh squeezed is best
1/2 cup of soy sauce or tamari sauce
1/4 teaspoon of microplaned orange zest

Orange-Balsamic Sauce
1/4 cup of orange juice, fresh squeezed is best
1/2 cup of dark balsamic vinegar (I like the thicker vinegar for this)
1 - 1-1/2 teaspoons of honey (depending on how sweet you like it)

Garlic-Wine Reduction
1 cup of wine, red or white depending on what I'm cooking (use something with enough body to stand up to the heat -- merlot, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, or sauvignon blanc)
1 tablespoon of garlic, chopped finely (this will be need to be strained out of the sauce)

I also reduce the marinades I use for meats into a sauce to go over them.

Chicken in Buxom Cream Sauce

I just couldn't figure out what else to call it.

On her way home from work, Julia called to see what I wanted her to get from the grocery store. She wanted chicken in some sort of cream of something sauce and wanted to know if there was anything else I needed. Well, actually mushrooms and cream of something (mushroom) sauce. I had everything else I needed.

I know a lot of people turn up their noses when someone suggests using a cream of something soup as a base for a sauce. I find it saves me a lot of work and hassle; I don't spend hours cooking the cream sauce and risking burning it. Campbell's soups are consistent, so I know how thick and creamy the end product will be. I also know that I will be adding so many other flavors that the base soup won't necessarily be recognizable.

One of my standard chicken in cream of mushroom sauce dishes uses dijon mustard; I don't make it like the recipe the can. I start with cutting up the chicken, sauteeing mushrooms and onions, browning the chicken, then deglazing the pan. But this weekend I ended up watching America's Test Kitchen and it gave me an idea: sharp cheese!

Chicken in Buxom Sauce

1 whole chicken breast cut into 1/2 pieces
3 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce
1 large white onion, chopped (I only had a half, so that's what I used. I prefer more)
1 lb crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon horseradish sauce
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup dry white wine
1 to 1-1/2 cups of water
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons dried garlic
4 medium handfulls egg noodles (good thick noodles, not wimpy curly ones)

Marinade the chicken in the Worchestershire sauce. The chicken should be coated with a little pooling in the bottom of the bowl.

Over high heat, sautee the onions and mushrooms in the canola oil until they carmelize and a dark brown crust begins to form on the bottom of the pan. Once the mushrooms and onions are done, pull out of the pan and set aside.

Drain the chicken, reserving the fluid. Brown the chicken well. Remove chicken and deglaze with half of the wine. Turn the heat to medium low.

Blend the mustard, horseradish, cheese, pepper, remaining wine, and reserved Worchestershire sauce. Add to deglazing wine in skillet. Stir in the cream of mushroom soup until well-blended. Stir in water slowly until blended. Return chicken, mushrooms, and onions to skillet. Stir well.

Stir sauce frequent to prevent burning. Simmer for 30-60 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

When cooking the noodles, add the salt and garlic to the cooking water. Drain thoroughly.

Serve the sauce over the noodles.

The dish turned out awesomely. The sauce was everything I wanted, creamy and savory. While strongly flavored, the mustard, horseradish, and cheese harmonized beautifully. Unfortunately, I had a couple too many irons in the fire while cooking dinner to think about serving a veggie with it. When serving a side vegetable, it needs to be strongly enough flavored to stand up to the strong flavors in the sauce. I recommend steamed broccoli or Brussels sprouts; green beans are too weak and carrots may be too sweet.