In The Kitchen With Mom Mondays

I think we can all agree, there's just nothing like Mom's home cookin'. It just tastes better, doesn't it? For that reason I've asked my Mom to submit some of her favorite recipes for me to share with y'all each Monday. Let's get cooking in the kitchen with Mom 

We've been on hiatus for a few weeks while we prepared for the holidays, but now that those are over we can get back In The Kitchen With Mom!  This week's recipe is a riff on a restaurant favorite of mine.  I happen to have a minor obsession with The Cheescake Factory's Chicken Madeira, and this recipe is a VERY close competitor.  We happened to have white wine on hand so we used that instead of the Madeira wine, and it turned out fabulous.  Check out our Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce!

Ingredients: 

• 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts sliced into two cutlets each
• ½ pound sliced mushrooms
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 4 slices provolone or mozzarella cheese
• 8 spears asparagus (and extra for a side dish if you like)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• ¾ cup white wine (I use a nice Chardonnay – use a white wine you would enjoy drinking)
• ¾ cup cream or half & half
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• Salt and pepper to taste

If your cutlets are not the same approximate thickness, cover with plastic wrap and flatten with a mallet until approximately the same thickness.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides.  Set aside.

Add the mushrooms to a large oven-proof skillet and sauté until the mushrooms exude their moisture and begin to brown.  Remove mushrooms to a bowl and set aside.  Add olive oil to pan and heat.  Add chopped shallot and sauté until translucent.  Do not let brown.  Remove shallot to same bowl with the mushrooms.

Add your chicken cutlets to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and cook the cutlets on both sides until browned and cooked through.  Remove the chicken after cookoing to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.  Add the chicken broth, white wine, mushrooms and shallot to the skillet and bring to a simmer, scraping up the browned bits from the pan.  Let this mixture simmer for a good 15 minutes to burn off the alcohol and reduce it somewhat.    

In the meantime, bring a pan of water to a boil to cook the asparagus in and turn your broiler on.  Place the cream or half & half with the cornstarch in a small bowl to mix.  Drop your asparagus into the pot of boiling water and cook for about 4 minutes.  You’ll want the asparagus to be crisp, but tender.  Drain the asparagus and set aside.   

Pour your chicken broth/wine mixture into the pot the asparagus was in.  Once it is simmering again add the cream or half & half mixture and whisk on and off as the mixture thickens.  While the sauce is thickening, place the cooked chicken cutlets into the oven-proof skillet, set 2 asparagus spears cross-wise on top of each cutlet and cover each with a slice of cheese.  Set this pan under your broiler and broil until the cheese is melted and begins to brown.  By this time your sauce should be thickened and ready to serve with your chicken once it comes out of the broiler.

I like to serve this with mashed potatoes, which I make in advance, and more asparagus.  The mushroom wine sauce is great on the mashed potatoes, too.    

Enjoy!