Tues, 9th Jan 2007

I made a pasta sauce with sliced chicken breasts and fresh white mushrooms for M & H's lunch & dinner tomorrow.

Here's a step by step guide.

Assemble ingredients:

1. Onions - diced

2. Garlic - chopped finely

3. Chicken Breasts - sliced and lightly marinated

4. Sliced fresh white button mushrooms

5. Mixed herbs - anything you have will work, ( I used Italian herbs, Mixed herbs, basil, parsley & oregano), black pepper & grainy mustard.

6. Cream

7. Bacon (cut into even sized pieces and lightly browned and drained) - Optional

Method

Brown garlic and onion in a non-stick pan.

When translucent, add chicken. Fry till lightly browned.


Add herbs, black pepper, mustard and mix throughly - continue frying till everything smells oh so nice. You will know.

Add sliced mushrooms. You will notice that a lot of liquid will be released from the mushrooms - this is fine - you can always thicken your sauce later with cornstarch or a roux (explanation later). Or you can panfry the mushrooms in a separate very hot pan for a few minutes - remove and drain - and reduce liquid left in the pan till it is concentrated to about 3 to 4 tablespoons and add this lovely concentrated mushroom water back into your sauce later.

Add cream and bacon.

Add roux to thicken.

Roux is made by melting some butter in a pan, add a tablespoon of flour and stir with a wooden spoon till it becomes a little ball - do not let it brown - add milk gradually till the sauce is smooth and glossy.

Adjust seasoning (if necessary) and sprinkle a bit more parsley on top. I didn't add salt as the bacon is salty and the herbs/cream had imparted so much flavour into the sauce it did not require additional salt.

Stir and allow to cool before keeping in fridge. The next day, just boil your favourite pasta and add to the sauce which you can heat up in a microwave or a saucepan. If sauce is too thick the next day, add pasta water or milk to thin slightly.