Sunday, October 12, 2008

Lemon Cream Chicken

When you read the list of ingredients for this dish, you may think it seems too rich, with the 4 tablespoons of butter, the cup of heavy cream. Hey, indulge! (Just don't indulge too often.) The sauce you'll create is velvety and decadent. It's so good you'll want to put it on everything - veggies, fish, ice cream... well, maybe not ice cream. This is a simple to prepare, yet elegant meal. It's great to serve when you're wanting to impress someone.

1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
4 Tablespoons butter
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 1 cup flour, salt and pepper. Add chicken and shake to coat. (if you'd rather not do the flour thing, just go ahead and brown the naked chicken. It's good that way as well.) In a large skillet, cook chicken in butter for 8-9 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Remove chicken and keep warm.
Add broth to the drippings. Bring to a boil over medium heat; stir to loosen browned bits from pan. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until broth is reduced to 1/3 cup (which will probably actually take more like 20 minutes). Stir in 3/4 cup of the cream, then the lemon juice and mushrooms (feel free to omit the mushrooms if you don't like them - it will taste fabulous anyway). Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
Combine remaining flour and cream until smooth; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to skillet and heat through. Serve over white rice. Don't count on having leftovers. You'll probably be licking the plate clean at the end of the meal. Yield: 6 servings.

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