Roasted Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

When planning a fancy dinner, a lot of folks overlook chicken. For some reason, we don’t seem to think that chicken deserves a spot at the feast table. That’s too bad, because there are some wonderful things you can do with a yard bird.

For me, adding mushrooms to a dish just makes it even better. And with this one, the addition of artichoke hearts takes up yet another notch.

I don’t have a story for this one, except for that time in Bolivia when I was working with the C… never mind. Let’s just go cook!

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast halves (skin on if possible)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, finely chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 1/2 cups frozen artichoke hearts (about 10), quartered, defrosted, and drained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or scant 1/2 teaspoon dried
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

On the morning of the day you’ll prepare this, season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and refrigerate for they day. This helps the skin get crispy. As soon as you get home, take the chicken out of the fridge and let it start to warm to room temperature. Of course, you will skip this step entirely if using skinless breasts.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add olive oil and heat until it shimmers.

Add the chicken breasts skin side down. Cook 2-3 minutes until skin is golden brown. If using boneless breasts, brown all sides.

Remove chicken breasts to oven-proof dish, and place in oven. Roast breasts for 15 (for boneless) to 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

While chicken is roasting, heat a little more olive oil to the drippings in your pan. Sauté chopped shallots and mushrooms with a pinch of salt until shallots are soft and mushrooms have begun to brown slightly and give off their liquid. At that point, everything is happy.

Stir in flour and cook over medium-low heat until nutty and brown, stirring constantly, about 3-5 minutes.

Pour in chicken stock, and increase heat to high, until sauce begins to simmer and begins to reduce.

Reduce heat to low and stir in artichoke hearts, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and rosemary.

Stir everything together and cook over low heat until sauce thickens smells like heaven.

Taste and add salt and black pepper if desired.

Once you’re happy with your sauce, you can turn off the heat and cover it until the chicken breasts have finished roasting.

When the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165, remove it from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.

If needed, warm the sauce. Once warm, add a pat of butter and stir it in as it melts.

Serve each chicken breast on a small pool of sauce, making sure that each serving contains artichoke hearts and mushrooms. Drizzle any remaining sauce over the top.

Notes:

This recipe is best with boneless, skin-on chicken breasts. You can use bone-in if you like, but it just makes it more difficult to eat. You can also go with skinless, but then you lose the beautiful presentation.

I recommend a good green vegetable with this one, but don’t overdo it on spices and such. You really want the chicken to be the start of the show.

Next time you want to serve a dinner party, try this one out and see if you’re guests don’t fall in love, just as mine have. And, as always,

Play with your food!

Lane

More Chicken recipes here.

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

Follow me on Twitter | LIKE Manly Kitchen on Facebook