lou's Chicken Breast with Peppercorn sauce

Deninne and I just had Chicken with Peppercorn Cream Sauce and it was excellent. 

I made it with "Drunken Corn" on the side (one of our regulars). 2 cups frozen Silver Queen corn, 1 Tbs butter, ½-¾ cup of dry Vermouth, ½-¾ cup water, salt & pepper to taste, and 1 teaspoon of dried dill. Heat to boiling then uncover and simmer for about 10 minutes to concentrate flavors and let excess liquid boil off. Yum.

This dish is a bit on the spicy side due to the cracked pepper, but fabulous!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breast 
• 1 Tbs butter
• pepper and salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup chopped shallot
• 1 Tbs peppercorn blend (black, white, green, red, whatever you can "nd)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (you can use chicken bullion cube in 1/2 cup water)
• 1/3 cup of heavy cream

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 4 pieces. Hammer chicken breasts to about 1/2” thick, lightly season both sides with salt and flour. Cook chicken breast until done, approximately 160°F - 170°F inside. Transfer to plate, cover and keep warm, or place in a 150°F oven to rest and stay warm.
2. While chicken breast are cooking, use mortar and pestle to crack peppercorns. If you don’t have one,
you can place the peppercorns in a plastic ziplock bag and pound them with a mallet or
bottom of a frying pan. You don’t want them too small, just cracked. It’s okay if some of the
peppercorns remain whole.
3. In the same pan that you cooked the chicken, add 1 tsp olive oil and mushrooms. Cook for 2-3
minutes. Add shallots and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken broth and peppercorns and bring to
a boil. Reduce heat, and slowly whisk in heavy cream. Allow to simmer for about 3 minutes or
until thickened. If you use chicken bouillon cubes for your broth, you won’t need added
salt. If you use a low salt broth or stock, you may wish to add a little extra salt to taste.
4. Transfer chicken breast to a serving platter. Pour peppercorn/shallot/mushroom sauce over the top.
Serve immediately.
Serve with warm bread to soak up sauce, salad and/or side vegetable. Delicious.

Here are some pictures of tonight's cook off. 

The main ingredients - chicken, mushrooms, shallots, butter, cream and chicken stock (from bullion cube).

Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 4 pieces.

Chicken breasts hammered flat, about ½" thick. Light coating of salt and flour (using a shaker full of flour).

Sliced mushrooms, chopped shallots, cracked pepper (in this case, black, white and green peppercorns) and cream, ready to to cook.

Chicken breasts sautéed in butter and about ready to be put on a platter in a warm oven to continue resting 

and cooking slowly. Oven set to warm (150-180°F)

                           Mushrooms, sauteed about 3-4 minutes in a little bit of oil in the same pan.

                  After adding shallots (sautée an extra minute) then adding chicken stock and cracked peppercorns.

         After bringing to a boil, ⅓ cup heavy cream added and cooked until it begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.

         Sauce is ready!

Chicken with finished sauce on top. Corn on the side. Time to eat. Oink, oink good.

I think this was almost as good with chicken as it was with filet mignon. 

Lou