Chicken and a lot of Whine

It's been one of those weekends that seem to suck no matter what. Now you remember that I live on an isolated rock off the west coast of Canada. Well, imagine how isolated that becomes when long distance connections don't work almost all weekend. Not only can you not make your calls to loved ones elsewhere, you can't email them either that you can't talk because THAT isn't working either and you can't then forget it by cooking. Why? Because the one thing you wanted to get this weekend to try out a new recipe isn't availabe (PEPPERMINT CANDIES!!!) and even if it was you couldn't pay for it because the debit card machine doesn't work (long distance lines again). Oh and you can't get money out of the ATM at the store because the machine is out of service. Sure it sounds like something one could handle but compounded with lots of other stressors in my life at the moment I felt ganged up upon and I just wanted to hide under a rock and mope.

I know I'm going to look back at this some day and say "what a whiner!" but I think every blogger is warranted at least a few whiney days.

At least one thing worked. On Friday, I made the Frog dinner from a recipe off the back of the dried mushroom package I got at the store. I was shocked to find this past week the same said dried mushrooms. Chanterelles too! It was one of those odd occasions when gourmet food actually shows up in the village store.


Horrid picture, I know, but the Frog wanted to eat.

Emperor Specialty Foods provided this recipe: Chicken Breasts with Chanterelle Sauce

3 tbsp vegetable oil (used olive oil)
2 boneless chicken breasts, skinned and halved
1 small onion
1 pkg Chanterelle Mushrooms, reconstituted (they said chopped but I didn't)
1/2 cup light cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used whole grain Dijon)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a loarge heavy frying pan, heat 2 tsp oil over medium high heat. Add chicken , cook, covered, for 8-10 minutes or until no longer pink inside, turning once. Transfer chicken to serving platter. Add 1 tbsp oil to frying pan. Saute onion and mushrooms for about 5 minutes (I gave the onion a few minutes head start). Reduce heat to medium low. Add cream, mustard, salt, pepper; bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Add chicken and any juices on plate; cook for 2 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Now, here's the kicker... His Froginess had me try one of the chanterelles and I actually ate it! Having had a terror of mushrooms since childhood I've avoided them like the plague for years. I only found a couple years ago that I actually was eating black fungi in a Oriental dish during my stay in France. And I actually liked them. Hence I tried another sort, these Chanterelles, and actually found myself being okay with them too. I'm starting to believe that my dislike is more generalized than I thought to button mushrooms. Pooey... you'll still have to convince me on those.

Now the sauce, from what I tasted on the two mushrooms I actually ate was quite lovely! Everything balanced beautifully. H.F. said he was surprised how the onion in the sauce actually subdued the natural perfumes of the mushrooms. It was an altogether a well-recieved dish.