Featured Recipe- Baked Chicken with Chanterelle Cream

Make sure to tune into Green 960AM this Saturday between 9am and noon to catch my radio segment.  I will be featuring a delicious Baked Chicken with Chanterelle Cream.

To download the recipe click here. Enjoy!

Baked Chicken with Chanterelle Cream

While many people celebrate the New Year with champagne brunches at home or at a lovely restaurant, my husband and I choose to dig around in the mud and leaves. Our New Year’s tradition is to go mushroom hunting and YES, we sure do know what we are doing! It is imperative to study mycology (the science and study of fungi) and learn from a guide before ever embarking on any mushroom hunt. The Mycological Society of San Francisco is a good place to start at www.mssf.org.  After a successful hunt, I found a recipe by Robert Mackler on their site which I adapted quite a bit to create a whole new version. This texturally excellent dish combines the classic mushroom, wine and cream combination with tender chicken. While chanterelles are best, any fresh mushroom combination will work nicely. 

Ingredients –                

·       One 3 ½ pound chicken, cut into pieces ( 2 thigh, 2 leg, 2 breasts, each cut  in half), all skin removed

·       Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

·       1 Tablespoon olive oil

·       1 pound chanterelles, or a combination of fresh wild or cultivated mushrooms, cut into wedge slices

·       2 Tablespoons butter

·       ¼ cup finely minced shallots

·       ¾ cup of dry sherry or dry white vermouth

·       Zest of two lemons

·       3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

·       2 teaspoons fresh thyme

·       1 ¼ cup of heavy cream or half and half

·       1 Tablespoon of finely chopped fresh marjoram

·       Chopped Italian parsley                                                   Serves 4

1. Pre- heat your oven to 375°F or, for better browning use 350°F convection. Place skinned chicken pieces into a fairly shallow oven proof dish and season very well on top and bottom with salt and pepper, set aside.
2.  Heat a large sauté pan or shallow soup pot over medium high heat until warmed, add olive oil and add chanterelles, toss to coat. Reduce heat to medium and gently sauté for 10-15 minutes, stirring to brown evenly. The liquid will render and mushrooms will begin to crisp.
3. Once the mushrooms are lightly browned, add butter and toss to melt. Add shallots and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, tossing well to brown.  Reduce heat to medium low and add sherry, deglaze the pan by scraping up all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, thyme and cream and cook gently for 5 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.
4. Pour sauce over the chicken and bake in the oven for about 30 -40 minutes.  Remove from heat and add fresh marjoram and top with chopped Italian parsley.  Serve with rice or egg noodles.