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Prep time
45 minutes
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Cook time
30 minutes
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Serves
6
Author Notes
I ate a similar dish to this one on my first trip to Provence, in Avignon. It was the first dish I recreated when I returned home. This is one of the most impressive -- and easiest -- chicken dishes I know. If you can't find wild mushrooms substitute the domestic variety and squeeze a little lemon juice on them as you sauté them. —ChefJune
Ingredients
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3
whole chicken breasts
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3 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil
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12 ounces
mixed wild mushrooms, sliced (choose chanterelles, cèpes, shiitake, portobello, cremini)
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3
large cloves garlic, very finely chopped
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3/4 cup
chicken stock
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3 teaspoons
chopped fresh thyme
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1/3 cup
crème fraîche
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sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
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Bone, skin and split the chicken breasts (and save the bones for stock). Put them between 2 sheets of waxed paper and pound with a cleaver, mallet or the bottom of a heavy saucepan, until each is about 1/8" thick.
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Pour the olive oil into a warmed sauté pan set over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté. Add garlic and let it soften, but do not brown.
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Remove the mushrooms and garlic from the sauté pan and set aside. Raise the heat. When the oil is very hot but NOT smoking, add the chicken breasts and brown quickly on both sides.
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Return mushrooms and garlic to the pan. Add thyme and chicken stock. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for about 8 minutes. Remove lid and raise heat to reduce liquid in pan to about 5 tablespoons. Reduce heat and add 1/3 cup crème fraîche. Do not boil. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at once on warmed plates.
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Wine Tip: I first ate this dish in a beautiful little bistro in Avignon near the St. Benezet Bridge, so I associate it with Provence. I’d drink a young Châteauneuf-du-Pape with this chicken… either red or white, depending on my mood.
30+ years a chef, educator, writer, consultant, "winie," travel guide/coordinator
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