Creamy chicken and mushrooms

Name: How to cook Creamy chicken and mushrooms - cookcic.com
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 3 servings
Cuisine: Us

Introduce

Chef :

Robert Gonzal

Creamy chicken and mushrooms

You know that cooking hack where you turn a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup into a sauce? My mom used it all the time, usually to top steak (which in our house was always cooked to well-done, and really needed a sauce), and occasionally as a braise for chicken or pork chops. Well, this is a homemade version of that hack. It may read as a little fussy, especially with the making of the mushroom stock. Truth be told, I only did that because I had an extra bag of older mushrooms that weren't very appealing anymore but hadn't actually gone bad. I don't know how much they added to the dish, but I know they didn't hurt it. If you don't feel like making your own stock (and really, why would you unless you too had an extra bag of wrinkly 'shrooms lying around?), use store-bought mushroom stock instead.

Ingredient

Food ration :

3 servings

Cooking time :

1 hr

650 g

button mushrooms

1/2

small onion, unpeeled

1 stick

celery, cut in half

1 tbsp

whole black peppercorns

1 tbsp

chicken stock concentrate (I use Better Than Bouillon)

chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on

large shallot, finely chopped

1 clove

garlic, minced

1/4 cup

brandy

1 cup

heavy cream

1 tsp

Dijon mustard

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Clean and trim your mushrooms, but don't throw the trimmings away. Take two thirds of the mushrooms and cut them into quarters. Put them in a bowl and set them aside. Chops the remaining mushrooms roughly (a few hacks with your knife is fine) and add them to the trimmings.

* Step 2

Add a large knob of butter to a medium pot on medium-high heat. Once it's melted, add the mushroom bits and trimmings. Fry for 3 or 4 minutes until browned, then add 4 cups cold water as well as the half onion, celery, 2 or 3 sprigs of thyme, and the whole peppercorns. Bring to a simmer, then stir in the stock concentrate. Continue simmering for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat. Strain out and discard the solids once cooled to room temperature.

* Step 3

Trim any excess skin and fat from the chicken thighs, then season them with salt and pepper. Add a spoonful of butter to a large pan on medium-high heat and lay in the thighs, skin-side down. Let fry about 5 minutes, then flip them over and fry another 5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.

* Step 4

Add the mushrooms you quartered earlier to the pan and fry until they release their water and start to brown. This should take about 3 minutes. Add the shallot and garlic and fry another 2 minutes. Away from the heat, pour in the brandy. Put the pan back on the heat and continue simmering almost all the liquid has boiled away.

* Step 5

Return the chicken and any juices to the pan. Pour in the mushroom stock, then the cream, and add the remaining thyme sprigs. Add a few grinds of black pepper. Stir in the mustard. Turn the heat down to medium and let simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened. This should take between 20 to 30 minutes. Fish out the thyme sprigs and give the sauce a taste. Season as required, then serve.

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