Sunday dinner features chicken more often than not.  This afternoon I watched The Hundred-Foot Journey, a movie starring Manish Dayal which tells the story of an East Indian start-up restaurant right across the street (exactly One Hundred Feet) from a Michelin-starred French restaurant owned and operated by Helen Mirren.  A cute movie that made me want to cook some delicious Indian food right then, even though I don’t have a clue how to do it, nor do I have their amazing spices.  It did motivate me enough to get off the couch and make something traditional and tasty for Sunday dinner.  And yet….I have a feeling there will be Indian cooking lessons in my future!

Ingredients:

4 whole legs (leg and thigh)

12 large cremini mushrooms, sliced

3 Tbls Cognac

3 Tbls unsalted butter

1 Tbl flour

1 Tbl olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper

1.5 cups chicken broth (low sodium)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1. On medium high heat, add olive oil to non-stick frying pan and place the chicken backside down first with fleshy part upright.  Lightly salt and pepper the chicken while in the pan.   Brown and turn chicken over and brown on other side after 4 minutes.
2. Once  fully browned, remove to a plate and cover with tin foil.  Add 1 Tbl of butter to pan.  Trim and clean mushrooms; slice and add to frying pan along with minced garlic.  Over medium heat, brown the mushrooms – about 8 minutes.  Turn up heat to high and add the chicken stock – bring to boil and then turn back down to medium heat.  Mix 1 Tbl of soft butter and 1 Tbl of flour (called a slurry) and add slurry to the sauce (whisk so no lumps form).  Add a smidge of salt to the sauce.
3. Take sauce off the burner and add the Cognac – blend into the sauce. Place chicken on top of sauce and put in oven for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees.  Remove from oven and add 1 Tbl of butter on top of dish for richness – Serve!

Chicken with Cognac and Mushrooms

Servings:  4