Supremes de Volaille aux Chamignons- Guest blog from my awesome daughter, Niki

Many of you have met my one, my only, and my favorite daughter Niki in prior posts.  We have so many fond memories related to food of course.  There was the time she and her friend Tori decided to open a store using my pantry for inventory…and tried to sell my stuff back to me!  You can click on this link for the “I’m running away from home” incident when she pitched a fit over having cookies for lunch. And of course, Niki is the reason why I started this blog and the person who pushed me over the edge to hit the “publish” by announcing it on Facebook.

Niki is very gracious with her compliments of my cooking, but the truth is there was a period, many years ago when due to serious health issues, she and my husband had to step up to the plate and the stove.  The results may not have been gourmet but believe me the love was there in every meal they cooked for me and those meals will always be the most special in my life.  It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t know what was happening down in the kitchen but I still laugh thinking about how multi-course meals arrived at my bedside – first Niki would deliver a piece of meat on a tray, then about 20 minutes later a vegetable would arrive, followed 20 more minutes later with a potato.  Occasionally she’d come up with the bad news “um, we had something else but Dad doesn’t think you should eat it”. Since that time I’m thrilled to see that Niki has mastered the art of cooking and serving an entire meal.

More than that, she’s also more creative and willing to experiment in the kitchen than I am.  She was responsible for the ultimate in appetizers (pizza dip loaded baked potato dip)  that I posted this summer.  I know how many of you are pressed for time at the end of busy work days and think that she has some terrific recipes to share with you that can be cooked up in a flash.  I love you Niki but if you ever make this again and don’t invite me, you will be very sorry.  Please welcome Niki as my guest blogger and yes, I will continue to nag her for more recipes.

Ever since my mom asked me to write a guest blog post, I’ve been trying to find a way to start.  If you haven’t tried my mother’s recipes, I can tell you that she is probably one of the best cooks I’ve ever encountered and that includes those in Italy where I studied in college.  She is very modest about her abilities, but the truth is I prefer my mother’s cooking to most restaurants.

I always read my mom’s recipes on her blog and bookmark them thinking that I’ll come back to them but the truth is, I just never seem to have the time. I’m a young twenty-something and work in the fast-paced world of public relations. My focus is high tech security and with clients on the east and west coasts my work day can be very long.  The saying “the news never sleeps,” is definitely true! We are pretty much on call 24/7 and when a crisis occurs, the workday ends when the crisis has been fixed. So when it comes to dinner, it’s usually a matter of looking in the fridge to see what I can work with.

While my mom’s posts are going to be about many delicious things you can make, my posts are going to focus more on what to make for dinner where you’re crunched for time, there’s not much in your fridge or you’re just so tired you can barely pour yourself a glass of wine.

Today in my fridge I had chicken, potatoes, broccoli, left over heavy cream and mushrooms that I needed to use. This entire meal took about 20 minutes start to finish and it’s a twist on a meal from another great woman, Julia Child.  My version of:

Supremes de Volaille aux Chamignons
(Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream)

Main Ingredients:
4 thin sliced chicken breasts
½ tablespoon lemon juice
5 tablespoons butter
Scallions (about 3)
½ package of baby portabella mushrooms (pre-sliced saves time)
salt and pepper

For Sauce:
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup vermouth
1 cup of heavy cream

For Sides:
4 Yukon Gold potatoes (medium size)
1/4 of an onion
3 cloves garlic
½ cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream

1 head of Broccoli

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
* Take out chicken breasts and rub with lemon juice, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.
* Heat the butter in an oven-safe skillet then add mushroom and scallions. Sauté for a minute then add chicken.
* Sauté the chicken for a minute then put the skillet in the oven (love this because I can cook this all in one pan)
* Once the chicken is cooked (about 6-8 minutes) add chicken stock and vermouth.

* Let the stock and vermouth boil down (about 5 minutes) then add the heavy cream.
* Simmer for about 8 minutes and you’re done!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
Boil the potatoes (Cut potatoes into chunks so that they cook faster)

After I drained the water, I had the bright idea that I would throw the potatoes into the food processor to mash.  I added the milk, onion and garlic thinking this would get mashed up nicely and be a great short cut. Nice try but sorry to say that this DOES NOT work unless you want potato puree. As for me I prefer my mashed potatoes a little lumpy. It’s better than way. So no short cuts for good mashed potatoes.

So after I took my potato puree out of the food processor, I needed something to thicken my mashed potatoes and I decided to see what sour cream would do. Who  knew –  it works wonders! I added about 1/3 cup of sour cream (add more or less to your liking) and use a hand masher.

Broccoli, well I just boiled it but still good.

My favorite part about this meal is that it tastes gourmet but it was simple and I only used 3 pots total.  And I even finished dinner in time to catch Modern Family.

Hopefully you like it! Bon Appetite!