Chicken in Wine Cream Butter Mushroom Sauce

I don't like competition when it comes to food. For me food symbolizes love, togetherness and a sense of sharing. If I close my eyes and think of the word 'food' what immediately comes to my mind is an old rustic table beatified with a white linen table cloth ,laden with delicious food from the rustic kitchen , friends seated around the table passing the dishes around, laughing and in short making special memories.

The first time I saw one of Raymond Blanc's videos I immediately felt I would love to have him as a teacher. What I liked most was not only did he give valuable tips , he filled the programme with laughter and music. For me its music when a person seems to enjoy what he is doing. I considered him my 'Guru' ever since I made his coffee parfait. It was fantastic and from then on I adore and look upto this one celebrity chef. That was some time ago.

Whenever I feel low I watch one of his videos. In one such video I came across this magnificent chicken dish. Usually when I invite my friends over for a meal I tend to serve red meat since most of my friends love red meat but the moment I saw the dish being made I knew it would be a star dish. The amalgamation of butter, cream, mushroom and wine seemed a sure shot formula for success.

I kept delaying making it in my kitchen because I felt such a fabulous sounding dish deserves to be shared with friends.

The other factor which drew me to the dish was the technique of poaching the chicken breasts. I personally feel that poaching is one of the best ways to cook chicken breasts which tends to overcook and become dry very easily.

So when the bestie came over to stay with me I knew it was time I made this fabulous sounding dish.

I do have one of Blanc's cookbooks which has the recipe in it but owning to the fact that I had forgotten to pick up button mushrooms and leeks I did customize it a teeny bit to the ingredients available in my kitchen.

The chicken breast remains juicy, succulent and moist

The end result was absolutely magnificent. Then a week later I wanted to try the same dish but this time I was missing one of the key ingredients, the wine itself which is when I made a version by myself which was quite fantastic as well. So I am sharing both the recipes the way I made it with wine and without wine.

Recipe sourced and adapted from Raymond Blanc :-

Version 1 : With wine : The one close to the original recipe

Serves 2

250gm to 300gm chicken breast (1 whole breast which you shall cut in half before cooking )

80ml white wine
200ml dairy cream (double is preferred but in its absence single will do)
5 to 6 dried mushrooms (Blanc uses morel mushrooms but since thats not easily available in India just use the available dried one)
50gm butter (unsalted is preferred but salted would do)
A sprig of rosemary for garnishing
Salt and pepper as per taste

Onions or leeks to be served with the dish

Version 2 without wine :-

250gm to 300gm chicken breast (1 whole breast which you shall cut in half before cooking )

100ml chicken stock
200ml dairy cream (double is preferred but in its absence single will do)
5 to 6 dried mushrooms (Blanc uses morel mushrooms but since thats not easily available in India just use the available dried one)
50gm butter (unsalted is preferred but salted would do)
A sprig of rosemary for garnishing
Salt and pepper as per taste
50gm Gouda cheese or any other semi solid cheese of your choice
Onions to be served with the dish
20gm butter

Soak the dried mushrooms in water and leave aside for 1 hour. Squeeze the mushrooms wash thema nd squeeze. Do not throw away the water in which you have soaked the mushrooms. Strain it twice and keep it. Chop the mushrooms

Before you start make sure you remove the chicken flaps from the chicken breast.

Now wash, pat dry and rub freshly crushed pepper and salt on both sides.

For version 1 simmer the wine for a few minutes and keep it aside.

Melt the butter in a pan which just about fits the chicken breasts. Once the butter foams brown the breasts for 1 minute on each side and remove them and leave it aside on a plate.

In the same pan add the mushrooms and stir fry it for a minute and add the reduced wine, 150ml of the mushroom soaked and strained water and cream and then bring it to a simmer. Add the chicken breast and reduce the heat to an absolute minimum . Make sure the chicken breasts are completely immersed. Cook on low heat for 1 minute and take it off the heat cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the chicken on the serving plate . Halve the onions and saute the onions in butter till golden brown . Bring the sauce to a quick boil and pour it over the chicken and serve with the onions.

Version 2 is the same as version 1 except that you do not need to reduce the stock. Just add the stock once you fry the mushrooms and after adding the cream add the cheese. Garnish with the rosemary and serve. I bet it would be the softest chicken breasts that you have served.

Tips :

You must make sure the chicken breast when it is being poached is completely submerged ni the cream based wine liquid else the inside remains uncooked.
Chicken breast overcooks very easily so timing is everything.
The pan in which you make the chicken must snugly fit it . If its too big it will overcook. In case the pan is a bit big brown the chicken in it and make the sauce in it but when poaching the chicken transfer to a snugly fitting pan which has enough space so that the liquid covers the chicken.
Shred the cheese before adding it to the sauce. It melts easily.
Lastly poaching chicken breasts properly takes some practice. If you haven't poached a chicken before practice poaching chicken in water or chicken stock. Place the chicken breast in a snugly fitted pan and cover with liquid about an inch over the chicken , bring to a boil and immediately switch off the gas cover the pan and leave it for 10 minutes. Once you are confident with poaching chicken make this dish.

Chicken in Wine Cream Butter Mushroom Sauce