Kiara Bean for Horizons
By Kiara Bean, Editor-in-Chief
The most common side dishes to braised chicken are rice or potatoes with vegetables. However, I like my meat with sauce or gravy on it. So, one day, I experimented with making braised chicken with a mushroom sauce. Here is the recipe if you want to try it.
Ingredients (4 portions):
4 chicken legs
8 oz. mushrooms (any type you prefer)
8 medium-sized potatoes
4 cups milk (I use whole milk, but you can use any type you prefer)
4 tbsp. flour
Oil (any type you use for regular cooking)
Salt (to taste)
- Thoroughly wash the chicken legs. Clean the skin off.
- Put a little bit of oil in a medium sized frying pan. Fry all legs on medium heat on the stovetop for about 3-4 minutes on each side just on oil.
- Lower the heat and continue braising the chicken in its own broth for about 35 – 40 minutes.
- Check the chicken occasionally and move it around on the pan. If the broth gets low in the pan, add a bit of water as needed. Always keep a small amount of liquid in the covered pan.
- After 40 minutes, cut into the chicken with a knife to make sure it’s not bloody or pink anymore. If it’s still pink, it means you were braising on too low and you have to continue braising until there is no pink chicken. When there is no pink anymore, the chicken is done. While the chicken is cooking, peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes, and boil them to desired softness with some salt. Drain them once they are done.
- While the chicken is cooking, peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes, and boil them to desired softness with some salt. Drain them once they are done.
- Wash the mushrooms thoroughly. Dice them into the preferred size (I make mine as big as my thumbnail).
- In a medium size pan, sauteé mushrooms on oil to desired softness. Add water as needed. Always keep a small amount of liquid in the covered pan.
- When mushrooms have the desired softness, and there is hardly any liquid in the pan, add the flour and mix for about 1 minute. While stirring constantly, add 1 cup of water to the pan. You are trying to get the flour to melt into the water so that you have “thick water”. Once there are no lumps of flour, add milk while still stirring constantly.
- Continue stirring until the milk is boiling for about 2–3 minutes. The milk should now become thick like a gravy. Set it away from the heat for 5–10 minutes.
- When plating, you can pour the mushroom sauce just over your chicken leg or also over the potatoes.
This recipe uses champignon (white button) and porcini mushrooms, but you can use any type of mushrooms you prefer. I use about half and half ratio (4 oz. + 4 oz.). The porcini mushrooms add a very strong mushroom taste to the sauce, which I really enjoy. If you cannot find fresh porcini mushrooms in your store, you might find dried mushrooms, which you can soak in water for about ten minutes before cooking, and the sauce will taste just as good.
This recipe is a definite 5/5 stars for me because the mushroom sauce compliments the braised chicken very nicely.
