You can view the original recipe here.
I've made this a handful of times and it is worth the effort.
It takes a while to create (almost 2 hours) but in the end it's just so yummy!
As you can see, bacon is included. And we know that bacon makes everything better ;D.
This is the first time I made the recipe using dried rather than fresh herbs. In truth, I would definitely use dried again! I can only surmise that fresh herbs would offer more health benefits.
Martha's recipe calls for a whole chicken, cut up. Since there are just two of us, I used two skin-on, bone-in chicken breast halves. You could also use thigh meat if you prefer dark meat.Use a small dutch oven or a covered casserole.
First, sprinkle in 1 1/2 (guessing) Tb of thyme. Sprinkle in another TB of rosemary. Pop in a couple bay leaves and a garlic clove, smashed.
Add 1/2 a small sliced onion.
Put the chicken on top. Salt & pepper the chicken, sprinkle with more thyme, place the remaining 1/2 onion slices on top.
Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth and a few good glugs of a "medium bodied" white wine. Try a reisling or perhaps a sauvignon blanc. Buy it cheap.
Cook in a preheated 300ยบ oven for 1 hour. Remove the chicken to a platter so that it cools to a point where you can remove the skin. Keep the cooking liquid, straining out the solids in a fine mesh sieve. Reserve 1 cup for the finished recipe, freeze the rest for another use.
Take your "wild" mushrooms (maitake and oyster) and cut them down to 1" pieces.I used 3/4 pound.
The recipe calls for 1 cup of red pearl onions, peeled. While I have used them in the past, it is unnecessary. Just use some from a bag of frozen pearl onions. Saute in 3Tb butter and season with salt & pepper (I just used pepper since the butter was salted). Cook over medium until they brown up a bit then add the mushrooms.
Cook the mushrooms for about 7 minutes, until the juices are gone and they begin to brown. Add 2 TB Madeira wine ($5.49 for a bottle) and cook one minute or until the liquid is gone. Pour the mushroom-onion mix into a bowl.
Use the same pan to fry up 2 slices of bacon. Meanwhile, smear 1 tsp of a grainy mustard on each piece of chicken. When the bacon is done, place it on or wrap around the chicken. Drain off the grease.
The final scene: ready for assembly!Put the mushroom-onion mix back into the saute pan, add one cup of strained cooking broth, 2 Tb Madeira, and place the chicken on top. Simmer until the chicken is warmed to serve.
The tester, who already ate Mac 'n' Cheese for dinner (and sampled uncooked mushrooms), insisted on having some. He didn't really like it. I am guessing the cooking wine put him off.
