Chicken and Mushrooms in a White Wine Sauce

Last week, I wrote about this past New Year's Eve dinner theme: French. This post is part deux.

For NYE 2016 dinner we had French Onion Soup and Chicken and Mushrooms in a White Wine Sauce — the latter from The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo.

I've cooked several of Khoo's dishes — Lemon and Lavender Chicken, Parisian Asparagus and Coq Au Vin on Skewers, to name a few. Each one has been accessible for us home cooks and delicious for all who enjoy simple French dishes. And the photography in this book is gorgeous. It's the prettiest cookbook I own. I'm such a fan that I've given it to several friends and family for holidays and weddings.

My uncle Frank, a recipient of LPK, says this is one of his favorites in the book. He sometimes makes the sauce to put on top of other dishes. Mais oui!

BTW, I didn't change up Khoo's recipe at all, except I forgot to slice the mushrooms (no big deal). Why mess with perfection?

XOXO,
Amy

PS: After writing this entire post, I got this feeling of déjà vu. Guess what? We rang in 2016 with a French theme and Little Paris Kitchen. Quelle surprise!

Sous chef Penny, 7, stirs the cream sauce.

Chicken and Mushrooms in a White Wine Sauce 
(a.k.a. Poulet aux champignons avec une sauce au vin blanc)
The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock (plus extra in case thinning is necessary)
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

For rest of the dish:
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound chicken (or turkey), cut into chunks
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
Handful of finely chopped tarragon or parsley

Start by making the sauce. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the flour and beat hard until you have a smooth paste (roux). Continue to beat until the roux begins to have a golden color. Remove from the heat and gradually add in the stock, whisking constantly.

Put the pan back over medium heat and simmer on low for 10 minutes, whisking frequently to keep sauce from burning the bottom of the pan. If sauce becomes too thick, whisk in a little more stock.

Add the wine and continue simmering for 10 minutes. When time is up, remove from heat and whisk in the cream and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the sauce is simmering, melt the butter in a large frying pan until sizzling, add the chicken and fry for a few minutes until golden. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

To serve, mix the sauce with the chicken and mushrooms and sprinkle with some fresh tarragon or parsley. (I much prefer tarragon.)

The Husband's Grilled Chicken

Let me brag on my man for a minute. Not only is he an all-around swell guy, he's also a grill master. Armed with his trusty Weber, he can barbecue the best burgers, steaks, and pork chops I've tasted. My current favorite of his culinary masterpieces: Grilled Chicken.

When most people think of grilled chicken, they picture a boneless, skinless chicken breast that is charred beyond recognition. It's dry, bland, and all-around terrible. But the husband has solved the problem of grilled chicken.

He starts with bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces. Using bone-in chicken adds extra flavor. The skin helps protect the chicken, and its rendered fat bastes the chicken as it cooks. Then he adds a flavorful spice rub to give the mild meat extra pizzazz. Seasoning the chicken the night before really allows the flavor to sink in. He grills the meat over high heat to crisp up the skin, then moves it to low heat to finish cooking without drying out.

Put the husband's Grilled Chicken on your menu for this weekend. Let us know how you like it, and post your pics to our Facebook page or share them on Instagram with the hashtag #HDHH. We can't wait to see what you've been up to!

Let's get cooking grilling!
Erin

The Husband's Grilled Chicken

Bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces - We use breasts, legs, and thighs.
BBQ Spice Rub (see recipe below)

Use your fingers to gently lift the skin away from the chicken while still leaving it attached. Generously sprinkle BBQ Spice Rub in the pockets you create under the skin as well as on top of the skin. Cover chicken with plastic wrap and allow it to sit in the fridge overnight if possible. This helps the flavor sink into the meat. (If you forgot to plan ahead, oh well! Just proceed to the grill!)

Pull chicken out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.

Meanwhile, preheat charcoal grill to medium hot with a double-banked fire. (That means you make a pile of charcoal on both sides of your grill, but leave the middle empty.)

Place chicken skin side-down over the hot part of the grill. (The sides with the coals.) This crisps up the skin. Cook chicken about 6 minutes, until the skin is browned.

Flip chicken and continue cooking over direct heat to crisp up the other side for 5-6 minutes longer. Then move chicken (still skin-side up) to the middle, cooler section of the grill. (If your grill has a thermometer, make sure the temperature is around 375-400 degrees.) Finish cooking the chicken over indirect heat until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, about 5-6 minutes longer.

Remove chicken to a plate, tent with foil and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

BBQ Spice Rub
1/4 cup chili powder (I use Penzey's Chili 9000.)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Store covered at room temperature until you're ready to use it. This recipe makes quite a bit of  seasoning, so you might not use it all at once. You can store any extra BBQ Rub in a sealed container at room temperature for a few weeks.

Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken

Usually when I'm working on an idea for dinner, I read a gazillion recipes and then cobble them together for a new final product. Or I stand in front of the open cupboards long enough to come up with a recipe that uses up what I have on hand. Yeah, usually the second one.

When I stumbled across a recipe for Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken on Pinterest, I had to try it. No substitutions to use up the half-empty box of whatever in my pantry. No additional research. No comparing similar recipes. I even bought special ingredients I'd never used before. (I'm talking to you, sweet chili sauce.) And I barely tweaked the recipe.

After one bite, I knew I had to share this one here on HDHH. It was SO good. Worth a trip down the Asian aisle at the grocery store.

And it's a crock pot recipe! Amy is the crock pot queen around here, but I thought she'd be willing to share the spotlight for this delicious dinner.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Slow Cooker Mongolian Chicken
Gently adapted from Carlsbad Cravings

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons sweet rice wine
2 tablespoons fresh chopped peeled ginger
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds* boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Cooked rice for serving, optional
Steamed broccoli for serving, optional
Sesame seeds for garnish, optional

Whisk together soy sauce, water, brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, sweet rice wine, ginger, Hoisin, salt, and pepper. Place chicken in the slow cooker. Top with 1/2 cup sauce and turn to coat. Refrigerate remaining sauce. Cook chicken on low for about 4 hours**.

Remove cooked chicken to a plate and use two forks to shred it. Return chicken to the slow cooker.

Place reserved sauce in a pan over high heat along with the liquid from the slow cooker. Whisk in cornstarch. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce is thickened, about 6 minutes. Stir as much sauce as you'd like into the shredded chicken and keep on the warm setting until you're ready to eat.

Serve chicken over rice with remaining sauce on the side. Garnish with sesame seeds. This meal is extra tasty with steamed broccoli.

*This was two gigantic chicken breasts for me.
**After 4 hours, my chicken was fall-apart tender and not over-cooked. I think my slow cooker tends to run a bit hot, so yours may take longer. When you can shred the chicken with two forks, you'll know it's done.

Curry Chicken Salad with Grapes and Cashews

Our friends Cathy and Daniel picnic like it's their job. They take it seriously and they're good at it. We experienced this firsthand when visiting them in Baltimore while on Spring Break. We met up at the park atop Federal Hill. They brought a delicious picnic lunch in a beautiful traditional picnic basket, because details matter to Cathy, a former opera director and stage manager turned interior designer.

Together we unpacked curry chicken sandwiches in mini pitas and -- for dessert -- homemade (by Daniel and nearly 3-year-old Gregory) oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We poured Orangina into plastic picnic stemware.

The chicken salad was sooooo good that I had to make it as soon as we got home. Cathy told  me all of the ingredients, which she mostly eyeballs. That's what I do a lot when I cook, too. I would say my version (below) turned out slightly more powerful on the curry than Cathy's, while hers was creamier. I still want to work on getting mine to be more like Cathy's in creaminess.

Anyhow, play with it and make it your own. My tweaks included using some of the whites of the green onions and adding some red bell pepper.

One thing Cathy and I agree on: the mayonnaise. I've said it before and I will again. It's gotta be Duke's. (See my Deviled Egg Sampler.)

I love how Cathy used mini pitas, which sadly I didn't find at the grocery. The ones I bought were too teeny to be filled with more than a thimble-full of chicken salad.

So, I wish I'd taken a picture of Cathy's sandwiches, because they were so cute and pretty. Oh well...I was too busy stuffing my face. And taking in a beautiful day in Baltimore. And picnicking with my friends, the professional picnickers.

XOXO,
Amy

PS: I did get Penny to eat this in her school lunch.

Curry Chicken Salad with Grapes and Cashews

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast, cooked and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 heaping cup of seedless grapes -- red or white -- cut in half
3 green onions,  white and green parts sliced ultra thin
1/2 to 1 whole red pepper, diced small
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 teaspoons curry
Salt and pepper to taste
Cashew pieces for garnish

Mix all ingredients except for cashews together and chill thoroughly before serving. Add cashews just before serving.

And here is a trick with the red pepper, which can make a salad super watery if you aren't careful. After you dice the pepper, roll the pieces in a paper towel to get out some of the water.

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Breasts

Fried chicken is all the rage. But the New Year is still fresh. My resolve should last at least a few weeks before I need to start frying things.

So today, we're baking our chicken. Low-fat boneless, skinless chicken breasts are healthy, but—let's be honest—they can be a little boring. Not so when you bake them with a crisp crust of pecans and drizzle them with a flavorful honey mustard sauce.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Curried Honey Mustard Sauce
Adapted from Everyday Food Fresh Flavor Fast
Serves: 4

Pecan-Crusted Chicken:
3/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

Curried Honey Mustard Sauce:
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons apricot preserves
1/8 teaspoon curry powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 5 minutes, just until they are very lightly toasted. Remove pecans from the oven and increase the temperature to 475 degrees. Finely chop pecans.

In a wide, shallow bowl combine chopped pecans and breadcrumbs. Beat eggs in a second shallow bowl. Season pecans and eggs generously with salt and pepper.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Grease foil with a light drizzle of olive oil or a mist of cooking spray.

Dip chicken breast in eggs and allow excess to drip off. Dredge in pecan mixture, pressing to help the pecans adhere. Place on prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining chicken. Drizzle chicken with olive oil. (Or if you have one of those handy olive oil misters, you could mist the chicken with oil.) Bake for 10-15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes.

While the chicken rests, stir together ingredients for Curried Honey Mustard Sauce. Serve chicken with sauce.

Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce

First of all, Happy New Year!! I hope 2016 is treating you well so far.

Now that the over-indulgence of the holidays is behind us, I think it's time to start eating a bit more healthfully. By that I mean my pants don't fit. Ugh.

Until I can zipper my skinny jeans again, my weekly menu plan will be featuring lean proteins like boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pork tenderloin. And maybe I'll try to cut back my ice cream intake. Maybe...but no guarantee on that one.

Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce is simple, but it feels special. And the recipe begs for customization depending on what you have on hand. No white wine in your fridge? Use chicken broth. Out of mushrooms? Skip them. Love garlic? Add a chopped clove in with the shallots.

Pop Roasted Green Beans in the oven while the chicken is cooking, and you'll have an easy, healthy meal on the table in no time. Your New Year's resolutions are totally attainable, folks.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce
Serves: 2

2 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1/2 shallot, peeled and chopped fine
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

If chicken is thicker on one end, pound it out so it's an even thickness. Season generously with salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Add chicken and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, about 12-15 minutes (depending on how large your chicken breasts are), flipping halfway through. Remove chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add butter to now-empty skillet. Once it's melted, add mushrooms to skillet and cook until they're beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Add shallots and season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, until mushrooms and onions are tender.

Stir in wine and cook until it begins to reduce, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan so they're incorporated into the sauce. This takes about 2 minutes. Add chicken and any accumulated juices back into the skillet. Turn so that the chicken is coated with sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.