Chicken and porcini
On our whirlwind day trip up to Florence we took in the Mercato Centrale with tons of tasty treats to choose from, beautifully displayed to attract customers. One thing that was plentiful were dried porcini mushrooms. A tip for anyone looking to buy top quality dried porcinis is to make sure they are from Italy not some far away land and that they are freshly dried mushrooms. The size of the dried pieces will determine their price, with small broken shards going for less than nice whole thin slices. Pieces can be fine for sauces and soups but beware of lots of dried dark gill pieces and make sure you are getting a good amount of light brown mushroom bodies and stems.
Heading back with a couple of bags of beautiful Tuscan dried porcinis I was hungry to make a nice Sunday dinner that showed off their delicious flavour. I had picked up a nice little organic chicken earlier in the week and decided to break it down to simmer it in a creamy sauce loaded with porcinis and a complimentary dose of black truffle.
This is kind of a classic preparation that could lend itself to any cut of meat that likes to simmer slowly but porcini, chicken and cream are just matches made in heaven. Don’t go nuts with the garlic to let the expensive mushrooms really shine. The bump of truffle adds another layer to the dish without taking anything away from the porcinis.
I served this up with some simple fried polenta but it would work well with potatoes, pasta or even rice.
So if you have some nice dried porcinis in your pantry try this recipe out for a dish that smells as good cooking as it does on the plate.
- 1 whole chicken cut into eight pieces
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 large clove of garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion, finely diced
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/3 cup dried porcini mushrooms (about 15 to 25 grams)
- 4 inch branch of fresh rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Tbsp black truffle salsa (optional)
- Salt and black pepper
- Start by pouring the boiling water over the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl to rehydrate.
- In a medium sauce pot melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and onions and continue to cook until they are translucent.
- Sprinkle in the flour with the garlic and onions and stir continuously for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.
- Slowly stir in the milk and cream and bring to a low boil to thicken.
- Lift the porcinis (cooled) from the soaking water and roughly chop them before adding them to the cream sauce.
- Carefully pour the remaining porcini soaking liquid into the sauce, except for about the last tablespoon to avoid any sand or grit that may have been on the mushroom from getting into your sauce.
- Add the rosemary and bay leaf and continue to slowly simmer to bring the flavours together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- The sauce should not be too thick and can be thinned with a touch more milk if needed.
- In a large straight sided saute pan that can fit all the chicken pieces in one layer, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil until smoking hot and brown all of the chicken pieces.
- When golden, remove the chicken to a warm plate
- Pour off any excess fat and then deglaze the pan with the white wine, scrapping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Cook off the alcohol over high heat for about a minute and then turn the heat to medium low and return the chicken to the pan.
- Pour the prepared porcini sauce over the chicken, shaking the pan and moving the chicken around to settle it into the sauce evenly.
- Bring everything up to just a bare simmer and then cover to cook for about 1/2 an hour.
- Remove the cover and continue to slowly cook the chicken until the sauce thickens nicely, another twenty minutes, more or less.
- When the chicken is very tender and almost falling apart, stir in the truffle salsa (if using) and serve with your choice of side.
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