Month-of-Chicken: Chicken with Yummy Mushroom Sauce

We have a guest post today! I am soooo excited to welcome Francine LaSala to “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time”. Francine is a best-selling ChickLit author and a cook at heart. Look to the bottom of this post for more about her and her books. I can testify to what a good read book are!

In The Girl, the Gold Tooth & Everything, perennially absent husband Jack Clark somewhat redeems himself as a partner when he surprises protagonist Mina by not only being home at a reasonable hour from work, but by throwing together a gourmet meal from basic ingredients found around the kitchen. I wanted to share a recipe that would be close to the one Jack prepared in that scene, though his was more like a Chicken ala King.

Unlike many women in my generation, I actually love cooking. Well, maybe not mundane Monday through Friday cooking for kids... But some of my favorite date nights have involved staying in on a Saturday, feeding the kids and putting them to bed, and spending time with my husband in the kitchen whipping up something wonderful together. (Yes, my husband cooks and bakes. I am a lucky girl!)

I tend to make the recipe I’m sharing a lot because it’s one of those low-effort meals that makes you look like you put a lot of effort into it, which is especially important when you still want to impress, even if you've been pulled in a million directions over the course of a day. Easier to make than Chicken Cutlets and much more fancy. Enjoy!

Chicken With Yummy Mushroom Sauce (serves 4-6)

For the chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each sliced lengthwise into two or three pieces (I think cooks more quickly and evenly that way)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter melted

For the sauce:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (fresh is better but canned is fine)

1/4 cup dry white wine (you can also use dry vermouth, if that’s what you have)

2/3 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt broth

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Dip chicken in egg, allowing excess to drip into bowl. Roll in breadcrumbs, shaking off excess.

Place chicken in baking dish and pour 2 tablespoons melted butter over. Bake until cooked through, about 25 minutes.

While chicken is baking, melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine and boil 3 minutes. Add stock and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 6 minutes.

Remove chicken from oven and place pieces on a platter. Pour mushroom-wine sauce over the chicken and serve immediately with basic buttered noodles or rice.

(Adapted from a recipe for Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Basil recipe from epicurious.com)

Francine LaSala has written nonfiction on every topic imaginable, from circus freaks to sex, and edited bestselling authors of all genres through her company, Francine LaSala Productions. The author of novels Rita Hayworth's Shoes and The Girl, The Gold Tooth & Everything, and the creator of The “Joy Jar” Project, she lives with her husband and two daughters in New York. Email her: francine@francinelasala.com.

The Girl, the Gold Tooth & Everything

Mina Clark is losing her mind-or maybe it's already gone. She isn't quite sure. Feeling displaced in her over-priced McMansion-dotted suburban world, she is grappling not only with deep debt, a mostly absent husband, and her playground-terrorizer 3-year-old Emma, but also with a significant amnesia she can't shake-a "temporary" condition now going on several years, brought on by a traumatic event she cannot remember, and which everyone around her feels is best forgotten.

When a trip to the dentist leaves Mina with a new gold crown, her whole life changes. Slowly her memory and her mojo return. But when everything begins to crash down around her, she's not sure if what's happening is real, of if she's just now fully losing her mind...especially when she realizes the only person she can trust is the one she fears the most. What's it all going to cost her in the end?

Find Francine online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/francinelasala

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Francine-LaSala-Author/223109337705912

Blog: http://clippingsintheshed.wordpress.com/

Website: www.francinelasala.com

The “Joy Jar” Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/318621974904272/

Buy The Girl, the Gold Tooth & Everything: viewBook.at/B009NF9VQ2