Recipe:- Creamy Chicken & Mushrooms

Serves 4

Ingredients 

50g dried porcini mushrooms

3 Tbsp olive oil

8 free-range chicken thighs (or thighs and drumsticks)

40g butter

1 small onion, 2 shallots or half a large onion, finely chopped

1 large leek or 2 small leeks, washed and sliced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

½ cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup cream

250g portobello mushrooms (1 punnet) cut into quarters

40g butter

Small bunch parsley chopped to garnish

Salt & Pepper

Method:

Cover the dried porcini mushrooms with 200ml boiling water and allow to soften for 20 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish or non-stick frying pan and season the chicken pieces well with salt & pepper. Fry the pieces on both sides until golden brown. Remove and set aside on a plate. Drain off some of the fat if necessary and add the butter, onions and leeks. Sauté over a gentle heat until softened. Do not brown. Add the crushed garlic and cook briefly until aromatic. About 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow it to bubble for about 2 minutes before adding the chicken stock.

Drain the porcini mushrooms and chop them up. Add them into the dish with the soaking liquid and the cream. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and any juices back into the dish and cook over a gentle heat for about 20 – 25 minutes. Half with the lid on and half with the lid off. If you do not have a lidded casserole dish, you could start off the cooking in a non-stick frying pan and then transfer to an ovenproof dish and cover in foil and roast for 30 minutes and a further 10 minutes with the foil off. A few minutes before the chicken is ready, sauté the quartered mushrooms in butter and stir them through the chicken. Scatter finely chopped parsley to serve.

Recipe Sam Linsell//TOKARA