Comfort Food

Since Sis had a fretful night (as did I... Got to be 3 a.m. and I was in the middle of this really incredible dream even though I was 1/2 awake and aware of everything going on outside--I'll think about posting it) and she was tired after work, I changed my mind. I was going to do a chicken picatta type thing (next week?), but instead decided to go the comfort food route. Chicken, floured and sauteed, pan gravy and mushrooms/onions. You'll see. It's good. Shall we go to the kitchen, Dear Reader?

Chicken-fried Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (I used thighs. They're still cheapo compared to breasts)
1/2 onion, julienned
2 cups mushrooms, sliced thin
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter, separated
2 cups milk
salt and pepper

To prep the chicken: Cut into 'serving sizes'. For me, that meant taking the 5 boneless/skinless thighs and removing the excess fat from each. If you're using breasts, you may want to slice them in 1/2. Just make sure it's boneless/skinless, because this has enough calories as is.
In a plastic bag, mix the flour, the paprika and about 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons pepper until well blended. Reserve 2 1/2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to the side. Toss the prepped chicken in the remaining flour mixture.



In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken on each side until browned. Should take about 6-8 minutes each side. You may have to do this in 2 batches to get a good fry, do NOT crowd the pan. That will only steam the chicken, not fry it. Remove the browned chicken to a plate, leaving the oil in the pan.







Saute the onion in the remaining oil in the pan (and that lovely fond!) until soft...






...then add the mushrooms on top. Add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to this. Stir together over medium-high heat until the mushrooms are soft. This should only take about 3 or 4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the onion/mushroom mixture to a bowl on the side and cover with foil or a towel to keep warm.



You should have a very small amount of the drippings remaining in the pan. If the mushrooms did what they were supposed to do, you shouldn't have very much left at all, but what you do have will be QUITE flavorful. To those drippings, add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.





Add the reserved 2 1/2 tablespoons flour to make a roux (we've covered the gravy basics before here), stirring the flour constantly until it's a medium brown. Add the milk, continually stirring to avoid lumps. Bring to a boil. Add about 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper.





Add the chicken back to the pan, drop the heat to medium low. Cover the pan, let 'stew' for approximately 10 minutes.





To plate: Piece of chicken, a small bit of the gravy (I did mainly to cover where I 'tonged' the chicken), then the reserved mushroom/onion mixture. I did mashed potatoes at the same time and took advantage of the gravy.

Chicken Fried Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions

You can also use rice instead of potatoes, not do a gravy, just top the chicken with the mushrooms/onions, or just saute the chicken without the flour mixture... I wanted a 'comfort' food, but didn't want to go to serious fry trouble AND didn't want to do something as heavy as the afore-linked steak. As always, let me know if you try it and what you thought.


--OFFBEAT EDITORIAL--
I'm surprised, almost on a daily basis, by the amount of people that actually hit the House™ through a search engine looking for recipes, or who pop in and comment. It seems a new face is added each week, so to speak. To that end, sometime in the next week or so, you're going to see a link on the side for Darkneuro's Kitchen™, where all the recipes in all their glory will be collected. IN addition... I know there's quite a few 'foodies' out there. If you like to cook, even if it's pulling a recipe from a book and adding your own touches to it, even if it's for taking ready-made stuff and making it better, SHARE. Join in on Recipe Tuesday. There's grower's markets that are going to be going gangbusters soon if they haven't already. Let's get cooking, people!!! I do the pictures 'cause I like photography and I think I'm good at it. That's me showing off 'skillz'. I'll take ego points where I can. You don't have to. But I'd love to have ya'll join in. It doesn't have to be every week, but what the hell, you know? C'mon... Share the recipes, share the love.