Roast Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Artichokes

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

Some random things I love in my kitchen: old Randy Travis songs, gin, antique glasses full of gin,  artichokes, someone else folding the dish towels, shallots, toffee, coffee,  and drbabs' recipes. 

So look here friends: I hit a trifecta!

I have been trying, with only moderate success, to cook things on Sunday night that my husband and I can bring for sack lunch during the week. Partly this is to economize -- those $8 Indian food truck plate lunches and turkey in a pita add up fast -- and in part I do so because I’d much rather face my own chicken or pork tacos come 1 PM than a sad cup of soup from the Senate carry out, which diminishes me slightly as a human with every bite. 

So this week I am going to be pretty excited to dig into my purse and pull out a container of Roast Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Artichokes. This is your basic browned chicken, finished in the oven with a soft stock-infused sauce, given a fun twist with artichokes and the greatly underappreciated Worcestershire sauce. 

In fact, can we all stop here to have a moment of silence for this bottle of fun in your fridge, which predates the anchovy craze as a salt zapper, tastes great in burgers, lasts forever and is very, very hard to pronounce. 

By the time you have your chicken browned up and ready to go into the oven, you should have those shallots and mushrooms cut up (you can buy precut organic mushrooms if you’re really in a hurry; tell whatever would-be Tom Colicchio hanging around your kitchen to hush, or at least open you a beer) as well as your rosemary prepped and your lemons squeezed. If you want to use good jarred artichokes I am not telling your mama. 

I probably only had a cup of stock in the freezer; no matter my sauce came out perfectly. I think you can also make this sauce without flour but it will obviously be thinner -- a summer blanket for a plate still craving cashmere. 

All told this is a 30 minute commitment (closer to 15 or 20 if you use boneless breasts) and with a side of, let’s say a nice farro salad, and you’ll be the envy of your block. And tomorrow, your office. 

Roast Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Artichokes by drbabs

Serves 4

4 chicken breast halves, skin on, boned if you like
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped fine
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock or broth (Use your best chicken stock. You won't be sorry.)
1 1/2 cup frozen artichoke hearts (about 10), quartered, defrosted, and drained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter (optional)

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom