Well, I don’t have a hard to please mother-in-law. She loves my cooking and that’s saying something because she’s a good cook herself. But if you’re in a not so fortunate situation, there’s this dish.
Chicken browned in butter is braised in white wine with rosemary and thyme and arranged on a plate. In the pan juices, pearl onions and button mushrooms are cooked, and cream is stirred in. The onions, mushrooms and sauce are poured over and around the chicken, parsley is sprinkled in and the delightful meal begins.
The funny thing is I always thought that we in the family were the only ones who liked this dish. Well, except for a friend who made it and called it a “keeper”. So, when I moved the contents of the old blog to this new domain, I did not republish the recipe.
Then, the requests started to trickle in. By e-mail, via Messenger and, just recently, via Instagram. Readers wanted to know where the recipe was for a chicken dish with mushrooms and white wine. I combed through my files, located the recipe and the photos, and here they are.
This is a one-pan dish so you’ll need a pan large enough to hold a whole butterflied chicken. You will need to flip the chicken over once so make sure that the size of the pan will allow you to make that maneuver.
Melt butter in the pan and, when hot, carefully slide in your butterflied chicken skin side down. Leave it without disturbing for a few minutes to allow the skin to brown.
Tip: If you have a small heavy pan (like a small cast iron frying pan) to weigh down the chicken to flatten it, use it so that the skin browns evenly. Otherwise, just make sure that the chicken has been butterflied well so that it lies as flat as it possibly can.
Flip the chicken over, brown the other side and pour in wine. Allow the wine to boil with the pan uncovered. This process will make sure that the alcohol aroma and taste evaporate leaving only the rich flavor of fermented fruit. If you want more information about cooking with wine, see the linked post below.
Cooking with wine: Does the alcohol evaporate? Do the calories disappear?
For those curious about cooking with wine and other alcoholic beverages, this post is about the evaporation of alcohol, the “bitterness” and about how much of the calories in the alcoholic beverage remains after cooking.
When most of the wine has reduced, sprinkle in salt, pepper and herbs. Rosemary and thyme in this case. Then add just enough water to braise the chicken in. Not too much because that will dilute the flavors. Not too little either because you need a little of the cooking liquid to complete the dish.
When the chicken is cooked through, carefully lift it and arrange at the center of your serving plate. In the remaining liquid in the pan, cook pearl onions and button mushrooms. Pour in cream, leave until bubbly then pour all the contents of the pan over and around the chicken.
Garnishing a dish with chopped fresh greens makes it look more festive and appetizing, but I have to say that it isn’t a must. The dish is perfect even without garnish but, if you’re in the mood, sprinkling a little parsley won’t hurt.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken about a kilogram in weight, butterflied and rubbed liberally with salt and pepper
- 4 to 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or twice as much if using fresh)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or twice as much if using fresh)
- 2 generous pinches salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked
- 12 pearl onions peeled
- 12 to 18 button mushrooms cut into halves if large
- ¾ cup cream
- fresh flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped, to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a pan.
- Slide in the chicken, skin side down.
- When the skin is nicely browned, flip the chicken and brown the other side.
- Pour in the wine. Allow to boil gently, uncovered, for about five minutes.
- Sprinkle in the rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.
- Pour in about a quarter of water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.
- When the chicken is done and the cooking liquid has considerably reduced, scoop out the chicken, transfer to a serving platter and keep warm.
- To the remaining liquid in the pan, add the pearl onions and mushrooms. Cook for about ten minutes.
- Pour in the cream. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper, as needed. When the sauce starts to bubble, turn off the heat.
- Spoon the pearl onions and mushrooms around the chicken.
- Spoon the sauce over the chicken to create a small pool around it. If there is extra sauce, serve on the side.
- Sprinkle in the chopped parsley and serve.
