Sautéed chicken and mushrooms over rice

The other night, I made a simple dish of sautéed chicken and mushrooms in a white wine sauce with fresh thyme from my garden. 

This cooks fast, and tastes great. The hot pepper is strictly optional. I have a ton of them in my garden and I’m enjoying them while I still have them. I like a little bite, and the arbol pepper is just the ticket for that. Here’s how I put this together.

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh

Olive oil

1/2 tsp. white pepper

2 large shallots, sliced razor thin

1 arbol pepper, chopped (optional)

1/4 lb. of shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 cup of white wine

1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves

Wondra gravy flour

1 cup of water

Worcestershire

Sea salt

Preparation

Heat a large cast iron fry pan, and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Butterfly the chicken thigh open, and set it in the pan, inside down. Sear that for a minute and turn it over. Give it another minute, and then use a sharp knife to chop it into bite sized chunks. Stir and let that sizzle for a minute, and then move the chicken towards the center of the pan and sprinkle it with the white pepper. Place a saucepan lid, just large enough to cover the chicken, over the chicken, and directly on the cast iron. Let the chicken steam for a couple of minutes.

Remove the cover and add the shallots, red pepper, and the sliced mushrooms. Stir and let that cook until the mushrooms have softened. Add the white wine, and the thyme leaves. Scrape up anything that has stuck to the pan. Stir and let the wine reduce by at least half. Sprinkle the chicken and mushrooms with a heavy dusting of the flour. Stir to absorb the flour, and then add the water. Bring that to a boil, and reduce it to a slow simmer. Sprinkle on some Worcestershire sauce and stir. Simmer until the sauce has a nice gravy thickness. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper, and you are ready to serve.

Serving

I served my sautéed chicken and mushrooms over steamed brown rice. I also set out a bowl of steamed, buttered broccoli, and some homemade dinner rolls. I popped open a medium bodied red wine from Spain, and dinner was perfect. Don’t bother asking about leftovers. They made a great second helping!