Mushroom Asiago Chicken

We were in Wisconsin recently and one must buy and bring home cheese!  I bought a nice wedge of asiago cheese and then proceeded to find a recipe in which to use said cheese.  And here it is!

Courtesy of The Midnight Baker Blog.

Mushroom Asiago Chicken

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast (about 2 large)
• 2 cups mushrooms, cut in half
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 springs fresh thyme
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1/2 cup seasoned flour
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4-1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste)
• seasoned flour:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Pound chicken breast with a meat mallet between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap until meat is uniform thickness; about 1/4-inch. Cut into serving-sized pieces (2 or 3 pieces per breast)

Heat the butter with *1* tbs of olive oil in deep, heavy skillet or saute pan over medium heat.

Dredge chicken in seasoned flour.  Add to hot oil/butter in skillet.  Saute until golden on each side, about 5 minutes per side.  Remove from pan.

Add remaining olive oil to hot skillet.  Saute mushrooms and garlic until mushrooms begin to brown.

Add white wine to skillet, scraping up all the browned bits that are at the bottom of the pan (this is called "deglazing"). Bruise the fresh thyme by twisting it between your fingers or hitting it with the dull side of a knife in a few places.  Add thyme to mushroom/wine mixture in pan.

Add the chicken back to the pan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan.  Add the cream and heat through. Add the asiago cheese (if you like it strongly flavored, use 1/2 cup; not as strongly flavored, use the 1/4 cup--asiago is a powerful cheese and you can even use less for just a whisper of flavor.  I like it strong so I used 1/2 cup).

Cook, stirring constantly over low heat until cheese melts. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced by about 1/2.  If you wish to skip the reduction step, you may thicken the sauce slightly with about 1 tbs instant flour or 1 tbs cornstarch mixed with 2 tbs water...however, the reduction will taste better.

Add chicken back to pan and heat through.

Garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme.  May be served over any pasta.

About 4 servings.

Here is how it looks courtesy of The Midnight Baker Blog!

Enjoy friends!!

Frozen Lemon Mousse

Lemons remind me of spring, and I can't wait until spring.  Plus, I had some beautiful Meyer lemons I wanted to put to good use. This dessert is for dinner tonight.  

Gather the ingredients: two lemons, 1/2 C sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1 whole egg, 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 C whipping cream, and 1/4 C powdered sugar.  This will make two individual lemon mousse, mousses??  Anyway...

Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl.  Juice the lemons to make 1/4 C lemon juice.  Put butter, sugar, egg yolk, whole egg, and juice in a saucepan.  Whisk to combine.

Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until it begins to boil, remove from the heat. This is lemon curd.

Strain the lemon curd through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl set in the ice water bath.  Stir occasionally until cool.  Remove from the ice bath cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.  Refrigerate for at least one hour.  This can be kept for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Time to make the second half of the mousse recipe.  Place 1/2 C chilled whipping cream in a mixing bowl and mix until soft peaks form.

Add the powdered sugar to the whipped cream and mix until nice stiff peaks form.  Resist the temptation to lick those beaters!  Oh what the heck, go ahead!

Pour the cooled lemon curd into the bowl of whipped cream.

Fold the two mixtures together, fold lightly so the whipped cream stays nice and light.  Now you have lemon mousse!

Spoon the mousse into individual glasses, top with some lemon zest and place in the freezer.  This is going to be delish!

Enjoy friends!