Last Sunday Laurence and I hopped into a borrowed pick-up truck with some sandwiches packed for the short trip to Loudon, TN, just about 36 miles southwest of Knoxville. We always love riding around in a pick-up, but our purpose on this occasion involved filling up the truck bed with a mound of mushroom compost. We were greeted at the guard gate by an old man with a knowing grin on his face holding this bulging brown paper bag out the window for us. "You here for the mushrooms?" We did inquire about the mushrooms, and he informed us that a lot of folks come out on Sundays to pick up a 5 lb bag of mushrooms. He also told us that he couldn't eat any mushrooms because he had "the gout." We told him we were really there for the compost, and he directed us by pointing to the billowing steam rising from behind the buildings.
As we drove around the back corner of one of the buildings we saw rows and rows of mushroom compost, each mound filling the air with its own steam. As Laurence rolled down the window and caught the first whiff he exclaimed, "Wow, that's ripe!" Our next greeter looked at us like he had no idea what Laurence was talking about. Obviously we city folk don't have the same tolerance for odors that result from decomposition. They packed in the compost and we drove back to the front gate where we paid the friendly old man, and we decided we might as well take home 5lbs of mushrooms for $4. Since I've probably purchased mushrooms only once before, I still have some recipes to find to use all of these up! Maybe some spaghetti sauce for freezing? Laurence has suggested just sautéing them all in a lot of butter. Anyway, it was a good excuse for trying out this new Chicken Chasseur recipe posted below.
Rich, fluffy, and ripe, our raised beds and rows are almost ready to go after a long day of working in the garden. Even though it was a rainy day it felt so great to get my hands in the dirt again, finally! And, we're expecting a plentiful crop this year thanks to our magical mushroom compost! We started a garden blog last spring, but I'll keep updating this blog now with garden news as well.
Chicken Chasseur
1 T cooking oil
4 bone-in chicken breasts (2 1/2 lbs)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 T butter
1 onion chopped
3/4 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp flour
6 T dry vermouth or dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 T chopped fresh parsley
In a large frying pan heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to pan. Cook until browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all. Remove and pour off all but one tablespoon fat from the pan.
Add butter to pan and reduce heat to moderately low. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 5 min. Raise the heat to moderately high, add the mushrooms, garlic, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables are browned, about 5 min.
Add the flour and cook, stirring for 30 sec. Stir in the wine/ vermouth and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Add the chicken and juices, reduce the heat and simmer covered until the chicken is done, about 10 min. Stir in the parsley and the remaining 1/4 tsp pepper.
Serve over rice or spaghetti!
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