Thursday, August 24, 2006
Roast Chicken Breast with Wild Mushrooms
Are you sick of wild mushrooms yet? I hope not, because the season has barely started and as you've probably realised by now I am crazy about them. From the day the first morel appears at the market to the day the last porcini
is dried I have 'shrooms on my mind. Pasta, omelettes, risotto, roast birds and many more will be the order of the day in the coming months.Tonight I felt like having something posh and I was really looking forward to a long, relaxing cooking session after work. So, on the way home I stopped at Fallon & Byrne for some wild mushrooms and swung by Hogan's and picked up a free-range chicken.
And to really go over the top, I opened a pâté of duck foie gras that my mum had sent me as a present. Well, I say I opened it. In reality I failed miserably because my posh can opener could not cope with such a posh can. So - yes, you guessed it - I freaked, I panicked and then Lofty couldn't take it anymore and, before I could come round again he grabbed a saw and simply took the end off the tubular shaped container. This did leave quite a bit of metal dust in the pâté, but I suppose it's better to lose some of it than to have it all but never be able to eat it.
In the end it was all worth it. Roasted gently on a bed of carrots, onions, garlic, dried mushrooms and herbs, served alongside the mushrooms and topped by a dollop of pâté the chicken was simply superb. I managed to resist the urge to make an elaborate sauce and simply deglazed the roasting tin with some white wine and homemade chicken stock and let the mixture thicken slightly before straining it through a sieve. When you do it, push down on the garlic and onion with the back of a tablespoon to push some of the pulp into the pan juices. Unlike a gravy which can easily distract from the flavours of the dinner, a sauce made only from the pan juices and a bit of stock helps accentuate the flavours of your dinner. Serve with boiled potatoes that you can use to mop up all the goodness on your plate and some mild green vegetables and I promise the result will be worth the effort.
Christine at 10:10 pm
