Pan-Roasted Chicken on Bacon Mushroom Ragout

This is the dish that hurt. Literally. This is the dish I burnt the crap out of my hand on. You can read more about it here.

It's really simple. When you put a cast iron skillet in the oven, you need to remember when you take it out of the oven to finish cooking on the stove, that the handle is hotter than hell. DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT do what I did and get distracted and take your nice sweet tender little hand and try to pick up the piping hot out of the oven handle. Sigh. Ouch. Hand in ice water for a couple of hours. Ever tried using the facilities with one hand? Seriously, make sure once you take that pan out of the oven that you put something on the handle so you don't make the mistake I did. It's taken me almost six months to post this recipe...no, my hand is fine now, it's my brain that is still embarrassed I was so stupid. The burn actually wasn't that bad, it just hurt quite a bit. I guess I have quick reflexes. The hand was red and tender for a couple of days but I was lucky to have Mr. L around. Not only did he play doctor for my hand, but he was the one that finished cooking the recipe, plating up the vegetables and serving me at the table (hard for me to do while I had my hand in a bowl of ice water).

That being said..YUMMY! Seriously the mushroom bacon ragout was awesome. I wished I'd had twice as much of the ragout as it was terrific. Great flavor. So glad I didn't drop the whole thing on the floor. This also made a nice presentation on each plate with the mushrooms on the bottom and the chicken on top.

I used some damn expensive chicken breasts from Lunardi's for this meal. $18 worth of chicken but it cooked up nice and tender. I'm finding the quality of their chicken so much better than those I find prepackaged at regular grocery stores. They were pretty thick pieces of chicken and with the 20 minutes in the oven and being covered with foil for a bit, they came out perfectly cooked. If you use small or thin chicken breasts, I'd check before the 20 minute time in the oven is completed.

Again, very tasty recipe. There is a bit of work involved but the results are worth it. The recipe came from the September issue of Sunset magazine. I've been meaning to post this for weeks for Cream Puffs in Venice's  Magazine Mondays event (which will probably substitute for the now defunct Weekend Cookbook Challenge) but keep forgetting. Thanks to Noble Pig for reminding me.

PAN-ROASTED CHICKEN ON BACON MUSHROOM RAGOUT

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
3 oz. thinly sliced bacon or pancetta, cut into thin strips
8 oz. shallots, thinly sliced crosswise
About 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms (wild, common, or a combination), rinsed and thickly sliced
6 boned chicken breast halves (skin on; about 8 oz. each), rinsed and dried
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup Grenache or other dry red wine
1 tablespoon chopped fresh lemon thyme or regular thyme leaves, plus sprigs for garnish

In a small saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add dried porcini, remove from heat, and let stand until soft, about 15 minutes. Lift porcini from broth, squeezing out any extra liquid, and chop finely. Strain broth.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, stir bacon often until fat is rendered. Add shallots; stir over medium-high heat until bacon begins to brown, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer shallots and bacon to paper towels. If pan is dry, add about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Add fresh mushrooms and chopped porcini; stir often over high heat until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown, 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and cracked pepper. Heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook until well browned on the bottom, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn chicken and transfer pan to oven. Bake just until chicken is no longer pink in center of thickest part, about 20 minutes.

Set chicken on a platter and keep warm. Pour wine into pan and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Pour mixture into pan with mushrooms and add porcini-soaking liquid, bacon-shallot mixture, and chopped thyme. Stir often over high heat until almost all liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mound ragout on plates, top with chicken, and garnish with thyme sprigs. Serves 6.

Note: I used some thin sliced bacon we had bought at the Japanese market. Belly Bacon, very thin, but probably not the best bacon to use in this dish. I'd love to try it with pancetta. I used a combination of white and brown mushrooms I'd bought at the farmers market along with the dried porcini. I used lemon thyme.

Note: I used Two Buck Chuck not only in the dish but in my stomach. Before I had to start drinking water because of the burn.

Note: I put the chicken aside under some tinfoil while the sauce was made. I used a cast iron skillet to cook the chicken and it worked beautifully. Except for that part where I had to put the liquid from it into that other pan and forgot the handle was hot...sigh.

A little bit of work for the finished dish but I'm sure if you don't burn your hand while making this recipe it wouldn't be too hard to make.

Comments

[NotSoccer Mom]

that looks yummy!

[noble pig]

Oh very nice looking. I bet it was delicious!

[Deseree]

Yum that sounds delicious! and I know what you mean about the cast iron. I just recently got some for Christmas and I always forget that the handles actually get hot too so don't feel alone :) While working at a restaurant, one of the cooks told me that if you dab a little vinegar on a towel or cotton ball and then on the burn it helps take the sting out of it. It has helped me quite a few times, and my husband the time I forgot to tell him that his plate (that I kept in the oven to keep warm), was too hot to touch. Oops!

[Carolyn Jung]

I bet that ragout would be heaven spooned atop soft polenta, too. Yum!

[chef barbie]

yum! this sounds delicious!

[Louise]

Oh, Mrs L ... that looks fan-stinkin-tastic!!! Bravo, bravo! And you even managed to sneak in a trip to Lunardi's? Their meat counter would make a vegetarian swoon!

Sorry to hear about your hand. Eek.

[grace]

sorry you burnt yourself! i guess that's the price we sometimes pay for a delicious meal. :)

[Jan]

You couldn't have told me that a few months ago????? LOL - I did exactly the same thing. Darn those handles get hot!!!

[Jude]

Hate it when that happens. I'm just glad my hand didn't remain stuck to the searing hot handle the one time it happened to me.