Chicken Breasts with Shiitake Mushroom & Onion Cream Sauce

Prepare the following ingredients:

• 2 dozen Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  
• 8 cloves of fresh garlic, thinly sliced
  
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 6 to 8 chicken breasts
• Emeril's essence
• Berbere spice mix -- or your favourite hot pepper spice
• 2/3 cup of cream
• 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of flour, for thickening the sauce
• splash of brandy and Disaronno
• canola oil
• fresh ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Lightly dust the chicken breasts (on all sides) with the essence and your favourite hot pepper spice. I like mine spicy so I'm not shy when applying the hot spices.

Add a small amount of canola oil to a hot frying pan and sear the seasoned chicken breasts on all sides to seal in the juices and give the breasts a nice crisp spicy exterior. Once seared, remove the breasts and set them aside.

Add another small amount of canola oil to same frying pan and bring to high heat (just to where the oil begins to smoke). Then add your chopped onions and sliced mushrooms to the pan, add freshly ground pepper and a pinch of salt to suit your taste as well. Stir frequently so that all the ingredients cook evenly (depending on the size of your frying pan you may have to cook the onions and mushrooms in two or three stages as you don't want to overload the frying pan). Once you begin to see that the onions are starting to caramelize, add the thinly sliced garlic. Once the garlic begins to caramelize (don't let it burn), add a generous splash of brandy and a smaller splash of Disaronno. Stir the mixture until the alcohol has vaporized and then remove it from the pan and set it aside.

In the same frying pan (continuing to use the same pan will ensure that all the good flavours that are building up in the pan from the previous stages are carried through into the sauce) add your cream and chicken broth and bring to a slow boil, stirring frequently so that the cream does not burn. In a separate container (a glass cup will work fine) stir your white flour into a half cup of cold water and mix well. Strain any lumps and then slowly add the flour-water mixture to your boiling sauce, stirring continuously.

Transfer the sauce to a larger cooking pan (one large enough to accommodate all of the ingredients that you have been working with) and add the mushroom, onion and garlic mixture. Bring the contents to a slow boil and stir occasionally until the sauce thickens to your liking. Taste the contents to see whether you need to add additional spice or salt.

Add the chicken breasts back into this larger pan, cover, and continue to cook the entire contents at a low simmer for another 45 minutes. Taste again just prior to serving.

Serve the completed dish with a mixture of your favourite vegetables and some small baby potatoes. I find that broccoli and cauliflower work well together with this dish. Kale and Brussels sprouts also work well as alternates. The sauce makes a wonderful gravy.

Bon Appetite!!