Chicken and Oyster Mushroom in a Garlic White Wine Sauce February 27, 2013

Now let me first start off by saying that I am in love with Asian market around the corner from apartment. I always am finding interesting items there as well as items that I use regularly at such reasonable prices. Case in point was on my most recent trip. I was going down the produce aisle and could not believe what I saw. There were giant oyster mushrooms that looked so fresh and had been cleaned of any dirt that can sometimes plague store bought mushrooms. Well I was going to buy these amazing looking mushrooms but then I happened to look at the price and my jaw almost dropped open. The price for 0.75 lbs of oyster mushrooms was only $4.19 (I confirmed at my local Stop & Shop the price for 8 ounces of oyster mushrooms was $4.99). So with my superb mushroom deal in hand along with my other small purchases I headed on home to try and figure out what to cook for dinner.

Since I know that an oyster mushroom’s taste is delicate and could get lost in a heavy or powerfully flavored sauce, I came up with the recipe below. Now in this recipe I use Chardonnay for the white wine but any wine that you like could be substituted. If you don’t like white wine I would just substitute either chicken or vegetable stock for the white wine. I served this dish over rice and it tasted delicious but you could serve it over pasta as well. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the finished dish as my fiancee and I devoured the entire dish as soon as it cooled to an acceptable temperature to consume since it smelled so heavenly while cooking.

Makes 4-5 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 23 Minutes

Total Time: 33 Minutes

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Chicken Breast Tenders, halved

0.75-1 Pound of Oyster Mushrooms, roughly chopped (make sure to leave the mushrooms in a little bit bigger pieces as they will shrink when cooking)

4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of Salt

2 Tablespoons of Pepper

1 Tablespoon of Dried Basil

1/2 Cup of Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 Lemon

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

2 Cups of White Wine

1 Cup of Chicken Broth

Directions:

Take the halved pieces of the chicken breast tenders and season with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of pepper. Set aside. Take the lemon and zest the whole lemon rind and put in a small bowl. Juice all the whole lemon into the bowl with the lemon zest. Set aside.

Take a large saucepan and heat the olive oil over medium heat. Take the seasoned chicken breast tenders and put them in the heated saucepan. Cook until the chicken breast tenders are browned on all sides and cooked almost all the way through, about 12 minutes. Next add the lemon juice/zest mixture, garlic and mushrooms to pan. Cook until the garlic is golden and the mushrooms are barely cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth, white wine, dried basil and parsley to pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and cook for 8 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half.

Finally, remove from heat and serve immediately over rice or your favorite pasta. I prefer it over white rice as it really complements the subtle flavor of the dish. Enjoy.

Creamy Mushroom Crostini Appetizer February 26, 2013

Now I whipped up this recipe the other day as I had extra mushrooms on hand and cream. It came out decadent and delicious. Now I probably ate more than one person should eat of this dish but once I started, I could not stop. I used french bread, but you could use any other type of crusty bread that you prefer. Same thing goes for the mushrooms. I used white mushrooms because of what I had on hand but you could use any kind that you like. I would pair this with a nice lighter main course if serving as an appetizer, like my recipe for .

Prep: 8 Minutes

Cooking: 21 Minutes

Total Time: 29 Minutes

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 Pound of Mushrooms, sliced

2 Cloves of Garlic, diced

2 Cups of Heavy Cream

3 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter

8 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons of Cooking Sherry

1/4 Cup of White Wine

1 Whole Lemon

1/2 Tablespoon of Salt

1/2 Tablespoon of Pepper

1 Teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes

2 Tablespoon of Dried Italian Seasoning

1 Loaf of French Bread, sliced

Directions:

Preheat broiler to high. Put the slices of French bread on a baking sheet covered with tin foil. Take 6 tablespoons of the olive oil and brush both sides of the French bread pieces. Place under broiler and toast until golden on one side, about 3 minutes. Then pull out the baking sheet and flip over all the bread pieces. Place back under broiler until golden brown on the other side. This should only take about 2 minutes. Take out of oven and set aside. Make sure to keep an eye on the bread pieces as they can easily burn.

Now to make the creamy mushroom mixture to go over the now crispy bread. First take the lemon and place it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Take it out and zest half of the lemon. In a small bowl squeeze the juice from the lemon and combine it with the lemon zest. Set the zest and the lemon juice aside. Take 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil and heat in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and cook until it melts, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until nicely browned, about 6-7 minutes. Add in garlic, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add in the cooking sherry and cook for 2 minutes. Add the white wine and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Finally add the lemon juice and zest mixture to the pan along with the cream to the pan. Cook just until heated through, about 4 minutes. Make sure to not bring to a boil.

Serve immediately. Place 4 pieces of the crispy bread on a each of the four plates and spoon a generous portion of the creamy mushroom mixture. Trust me this will over any guests that you have over for dinner. Enjoy.