Chicken and Spring Mushrooms

This is a great dish to prepare in the Spring time when Morels and Peas are in season. Both are pretty short seasons, so grab them when you see them. This recipe uses Veal Stock to impart a good richness into the sauce and Mushroom Stock which adds earthiness. Veal stock is tougher to find in stores, so if you haven’t made your own, you can substitute chicken stock. Avoid beef stock as it would be too overpowering for the chicken in this dish. This recipe is similar to the Morel Marsala recipe, with the difference being that white wine was used instead of Marsala wine. The Marsala dish is more on the sweeter side, whereas this has a good balance of the deep rich flavors from the veal stock, earthiness from the mushroom stock and the acidity from the wine, vinegar and lemon.


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Ingredients

  • 2.25lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

  • 1 medium yellow onion

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1/2lbs morels or other wild mushroom, washed thoroughly

  • 1lbs large shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

  • 1/2lbs english peas (in their pods. if frozen, then 1/2 cup instead)

  • 1/4 bunch fresh thyme (make a sachet with the bay leaves below, or at least tie them together so they can be easily removed later)

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 10oz veal stock (you can substitute chicken stock or double the amount of mushroom stock)

  • 12oz wild mushroom stock

  • 2/3 cup dry white wine (sauvignon blanc)

  • Red wine vinegar (1tsbp, then to taste)

  • Champagne Vinegar (1tbsp, then to taste)

  • Kosher salt

  • fresh ground black pepper

  • Kosher salt

  • fresh ground black pepper

  • Canola or high heat cooking oil such as Avocado

Prep

Chicken

  • Let the chicken rest while you’re prepping the veg

  • Cut the chicken thigh across the thinnest part between the top and bottom of the thigh meat. If the top (thickest part) of the thigh is thick, cut it in half or quarters. You’re going for 2”x2” chunks.

  • Put the chicken into a mixing bowl, drizzle with canola oil and toss to combine. Make sure all of the chicken is coated.

  • Season the chicken with kosher salt, toss to combine and then season it again. You want nice and even seasoning over all of the chicken chunks.

  • Set aside

Morels

  • Fill a large bowl with luke warm water

  • Trim the white bottom stem off the mushroom. You can clean these in water and save them for mushroom stock by freezing them with any other mushroom trim you’ve been saving.

  • Put all the mushrooms into the water and let them soak for a minute or two. You’ll see the water start to change color, and you may also hear a faint sizzling sound.

  • Gently swirl the mushrooms in the water a few times.

  • Give it a few seconds for the dirt to settle towards the bottom of the bowl.

  • Drain the water out, refill and repeat.

  • Do this until the water runs clean and there is no more dirt floating around. Depending on how dirty the mushrooms are, this could take a while.

  • Once they’re clean, remove them from the water, gently pat them with a towel and set aside, preferably on a rack so they don’t sit in their own water.

Shiitakes

  • Turn the mushroom upside down so the cap is facing downwards.

  • Twist the stem back and forth until it snaps off of the cap.

  • You can reserve these for stock as well.

  • Usually shiitakes are pretty clean, but you can wipe the caps with a damp paper towel if needed.

  • Depending on the size of the caps, you can cut them down to 1/2 inch pieces. If they’re small caps you can leave them whole.

  • Set aside

Onions

  • Cut the onion in half through the root

  • Lay the flat side down on the cutting board

  • Slice the onions into thin strips

Peas

  • If the peas are fresh, you’ll need to give them a quick blanch

  • If they’re frozen, you can just wait until the dish in completed and then add them in to the pan to warm up in the sauce.

  • For fresh peas, you want to remove them from their pods.

  • You can do this by twisting the top root tip so that it snaps off, then pull down towards you to release the string from the pod.

  • Open the pod up and remove the peas into a container.

  • Make an ice bath in a bowl large enough to hold the cooked peas

  • Bring water to a boil in a saucepan

  • Once boiling, add 1 tbsp kosher salt and stir to dissolve

  • Add the peas to the boiling water

  • Let them blanch for 2-3 minutes

  • Remove them from the water and place them into the ice bath

  • Remove them from the bath when they’re cold, and place them on a paper towel

  • Shake them around to get the excess water off of them to dry

  • Set aside

Cooking Instructions

  • Heat some high heat cooking oil in your pan and season the chicken

  • When the oil just begins to smoke, add enough chicken to fill the pan without overcrowding and sauté over high heat for roughly 2-3 minutes per side.. You’ll probably have to cook the chicken in batches. You’re going to be cooking for color here, so just pay attention to what’s happening on the outside of the meat. Don’t worry about cooking it all the way through.

  • Once they get their color, remove them from the pan, transfer to a rack. Let the oil come back up to temperature before adding your next batch of chicken.

  • Once you’ve cooked all of the chicken, look at the remaining oil in the pan. If it’s dirty or was smoking during the cooking, you can discard it and add more oil to the pan before continuing.

  • Heat enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of a pan over medium heat

  • Add your chopped shiitakes to the pan

  • Add a pinch of salt to help them release their moisture

  • Let them sauté until they just begin to turn a golden color, 3-5 minutes

  • Add the morels and a small pinch of salt

  • Continue to sauté for another 5 -7 minutes. The washed morels should add some moisture to the pan as you cook. You’ll need to stir a bit more to keep the shiitakes from getting too brown.

  • Now add your sliced onions to the pan and a small pinch of salt to help them sweat

  • Add the thyme sachet to the pan as well.

  • Let them sauté for 5 minutes or until they become translucent

  • Add the tomato paste, stir to combine and cook for 1 minute until integrated

  • Turn the heat up to medium-high for 30 seconds to let your pan heat up a bit

  • Deglaze the pan with white wine, making sure to scrape up the bits stuck to the pan

  • Reduce the wine by 2/3 over medium high heat

  • Add your stock mixture (veal and mushroom), stir to combine, bring to a strong simmer and then reduce the heat to medium and maintain a low simmer.

  • Let the stock simmer slowly for 7-10 minutes. Try not to let it reduce too much, since you’ll be adding the chicken back later. You shouldn’t lose more than 1/8th of the liquid currently in the pan.

  • Add both the red wine and the champagne vinegar. Start with the measured amount above, and then add more to taste if desired.

  • After that you can begin to taste the stock and adjust the seasonings to your liking.

  • Once the flavors are where you want them, add the semi-cooked chicken back to the pan

  • The chicken should be mostly submerged at this point. Continue to cook on a low simmer for another 5-7 minutes. When the chicken is cooked through, the dish will be done. Test the thicker pieces to be safe by cutting into them. You shouldn’t see any pink coloring.

  • Once the chicken is cooked, you can add the peas and let the residual heat cook them through. It should only take a couple of minutes for the peas to come to temperature.

  • Remove the sachet and make any final seasoning adjustments before serving.

  • Garnish with thyme leaves, fleur de sel salt and a little fresh ground black pepper


The Final Dish