Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce and Banana Soft Serve

I was feeling motivated last night and made three pieces to my dinner. For our entree I made Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce (Martha Stewart Living, March 2007) then served it on a bed of garlic sauteed dandelion greens which was on top of quinoa. Dinner looked beautiful but it was such a taste bud disappointment! The chicken was not flavorful, dandelion greens taste like soap (I apologize if I offend anyone who likes them but we both thought they were gross!) and the quinoa was just boring. It did look pretty though. I felt so proud when I was done, before I put that first bite in my mouth. I was bummed because I bought all of these great ingredients for this dish and I felt like it was a waste. Wah-wah. Oh well! Moving on....


For dessert I was so excited to try banana soft serve sundaes which I got from the blog KathEatsRealFood. It sounded so easy! Put 2 - 2.5 bananas in a food processor and let it run for 5 minutes. This is great if you have one of those big food processors but I live in the city which means I only own a mini-food processor! However, I thought nothing of it until my bananas had been whirling around for almost 2 minutes when I saw smoke coming out of my food processor. Uh oh! I stopped the food processor and touched the base to make sure it wasn't just frost misting off the container. Nope! It was really hot! I quickly unplugged the mini-food processor and decided that 2 minutes was going to have to do. I'm also just hoping that my food processor is okay. I thought I should let it take a break before I tested it again. Anyway, after my dilemma I scooped out banana "soft serve" into two bowls and put a teaspoon of the Peanut Butter Co. Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter on top. Melted of course! The end result was delicious! Matt couldn't believe it was just frozen bananas! Maybe next time I'll try using my blender!?


Lauren's dinner review: Too bland for all that effort.
Matt's dinner review: It was okay but not worthy of a spot in the recipe box.
Final decision: Trash it.

Roast Chicken with Wild-Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breast halves with skin (about 11 ounces each) *I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts*
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 pound assorted mushrooms (such as shiitake, cremini, and white), stemmed and quartered
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus sprigs
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin side down; cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip; transfer to oven. Roast until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a plate; cover.

Place the skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add mushrooms. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in vinegar. Add flour; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in stock and chopped parsley; simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream; season with salt and pepper. Serve with chicken; garnish with parsley sprigs.

Serves 4