Chicken with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce - Secret Recipe Club

Welcome, Dear Reader!  Hope you enjoyed all the Purim festivities this past weekend.   And for those who watched the Academy Awards last night, hope your favorites won. In either of the cases, hope you are not nursing a hangover headache today from all that partying.

Okay, now back to business.   For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to make and post a recipe from Baking and Creating with Avril.  Avril shares a lot of lovely and delicious-looking creations, with most quick enough to whip up for a weeknight meal.  Since I had a whole cut-up chicken, two package of sliced mushrooms and a random red onion patiently in the fridge for when I got home from work at 5:50pm this past Thursday, I made the executive decision to stop procrastinating and select something from Avril's recipes that utilizes all of them.

Let's see ... chicken?  Yes!

Mushrooms?  YES!  Oh boy!

Red onion?  YES! Ohboyohboyohboy!

So I start to assemble all the ingredients on the counter ...

then ... finally noticed ...

... that Avril's recipe called for skinless, boneless chicken.

Oh ... poop!  (sorry for all those dots ... there was this sale on ellipsis points at the Try 'n Save ...)

Well, at 6pm I wasn't about to run out and purchase more recipe-friendly poultry, so I adjusted Avril's version to be more me-friendly.  As it turned out, by 7pm we were sitting down to dinner, which isn't too bad, timing-wise. 

Wine is not an original ingredient, but I had what I thought was about a half-cup remaining in a bottle from the previous evening and needed an excuse to use it up.  Turned out it was about an entire cup.  Which is twice as good as one-half cup.  If you decide to use any wine at all, add a few minutes to the sauce reduction time (or use less broth to compensate).  The resulting sauce was a little on the thin side, but still delicious.

Since I also had a half-bag of fingerling potato medley on the counter, it made sense (at least in my little world) to use them instead of rice or pasta.  Just before we started to dig in, daHubby said that while dinner was "nice" and that the recipe is a keeper, he felt that bone-in chicken served over potatoes was a little weird, and that I shoulda used rice.  But to be fair, I can put a plate of rice over rice in front of him and he's happy, so I ignored him and returned to my serving, trying not to make too many yummy sounds.

Chicken with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce
Adapted from: Baking and Creating with Avril
Serves 4

1 Tbl. olive oil
1 whole chicken, skin on, cut into 8th's
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
16 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 small or 1/2 medium-size red onion, finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth (low-sodium preferred)
2 tsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
2 Tbl. balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
2 Tbl. unsalted margarine
2 cups fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and halved (quarter the larger fingerlings)
water (enough to cover potatoes) mixed with 2 teapoons table salt

Heat oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down,  Cook undisturbed until skin starts to brown a bit (about 6 minutes).  Flip; sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook another 6 minutes until other side is browned as well (chicken will not be anywhere cooked through!).  Transfer chicken to a covered dish and set aside; keep warm.

Looks like a lot o'mushrooms, even in this large dutch oven.

Do not wipe out skillet.  Add mushrooms, diced onion and garlic.

But mushrooms reduce down significantly

Sauté, stirring frequently over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until mushrooms reduce and start to give off their liquid.  Remove veggies to a covered bowl, leaving as much liquid behind in skillet as possible.

Meanwhile, into a 2 quart saucepan add potatoes and salted water.  Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 10-12 minutes or until fork-tender.  Drain, allowing some moisture to cling to potatoes.  Return potatoes to their cooking pot.  Cover, set aside and keep warm

While potatoes are cooking, into the remaining liquid in the skillet stir in broth, balsamic vinegar, thyme and wine (if using).  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for 2-5 minutes to reduce sauce by a third (especially important if wine is used) or until you are too hungry to care.

Return chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet; cover, reduce heat to a simmer and let chicken cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through (no pink remains).  Remove and discard thyme sprigs, if used.

Plate potatoes.  Top with chicken and keep warm.

Add mushroom mixture and margarine to remaining liquid in pot.  Increase heat to medium-high just long enough to melt margarine and rewarm veggies.

Ladle sauce over chicken and serve.

Disclaimer - because this recipe is part of an online cooking group, many of the linked recipes below might NOT be kosher.