Here it is – the moment you’ve all been waiting for – another chicken recipe! But, this one is special because it has a French title which automatically elevates it from mundane to elegant. Why is that? Regardless, chicken breasts stuffed with wild mushrooms is anything but boring.

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I wanted to post some recipes during the holidays that are easy to prepare for a diner party, light in fat, low in cost, French, and beautiful. Immediately chicken stuffed with wild mushrooms came to mind. Chanterelles, shitake, and oyster mushrooms are plentiful right now so take your pick or use all of them together.

If serving this dish to a crowd, stuff the chicken ahead of time. Cook it à la minute after your first course and let your guests marvel at your chef capabilities. The chicken takes 6 minutes to cook through and the sauce about 3 minutes. A word to the wise, practice once beforehand so you are comfortable with the time limitations.

Holiday shopping getting you down? Watch my video – at least you’re not cooking on a two burner plaque! (okay, so it’s in Paris, tant pis.) ‘Tis the season to be jolly! (recipe on page continued. Click on the link at the very bottom)

More Chicken Recipes from the Blogoshpere:

Chicken and Mushroom Cream Sauce
Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, Rosemary
Chicken, Mushrooms, Tomatoes with Port Wine

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Suprême de Volaille Farcies aux Champgnons Sauvage

Serves 4 (can be doubled no prob)

Ingredients
1 1/2 baskets mixed wild mushrooms sliced (oyster, chanterelle, white, shitake, etc)
Save a few whole mushrooms for presentation
1 cup chicken stock no sodium
2 shallots thinly sliced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2-3 Tablespoons crème fraîche or 1/2 cup creme
4 skinless boneless organic chicken breasts
3 Tablepoons olive oil
3/4 cup champagne or white wine
Salt and pepper
Optional:
2 Tablespoons cream
1-2 Tablespoons brandy
2 Tablespoons butter

Instructions
1. Heat a skillet on medium heat and add 1T olive oil. Sweat shallots until translucent (2 min). Add sliced wild mushrooms and cook until tender. If mushrooms give off a lot of water, drain some of the liquid and reserve for sauce. Sprinkle dried thyme over the shrooms with salt and pepper to taste. If adding cream and brandy do so once the mushrooms are almost all the way cooked and let the sauce reduce.
2. Remove mushies to a plate to cool.
3. With chicken fillets, remove the petit filet (the finger piece on the underside). Cut a pocket into the thicker edge of the breast by inserting the tip of a knife and making an incision 2/3rd’s the way down the breast and 2/3rd’s of the way in.
4. Fill each pocket with one-quarter of the mushroom mixture.
5. Heat 2T of olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot add the chicken breasts. Cook 6-8 minutes total flipping gently once. Remove breasts to a plate and keep warm.
6. Pour off excess oil but keep the pan drippings and add the white wine on medium-high heat. Let it reduce by half and then add the chicken stock, any extra pan drippings, and any mushroom juice.
7. Once the sauce has reduced again by half add the crème fraîche and whisk in. When the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon add the chicken breasts back to the skillet basting a few times. Cook 1-2 minutes.
8. Remove breasts to serving plates. Taste sauce and season with salt and pepper. Allow sauce to reduce further if necessary. Spoon sauce around chicken and plate with whole mushrooms.

Optional: to finish sauce and make it thicker and richer add 1-2 Tablespoon of butter to sauce off the heat and swirl in after removing chicken.

Chef’s Tips
1. If you add salt and pepper to your sauce before it has reduced you might be surprised in the end at how concentrated the flavor is
2. Make sure oil is hot before searing chicken breasts. This helps to lock in the flavor and give a nice brown color.
3. Use a pan that fits the quantity of food being cooked. A pan too large will burn in areas that there are no ingredients.