All mushrooms work well with this recipe for Chicken and Mushroom Sauce, but if you really want to make the most of this recipe use 2 or 3 different types. Using various mushrooms will give you deeper flavor and wonderful textures. Sous vide chicken is divine! Not only does the sous vide lock in all the nutrients, but it also keeps the chicken tender and juicy too. The rubber chicken dinner is a thing of the past!
Can I pick my own mushrooms?
Morel mushrooms are one of the most unique and scrumptious wild fungi. Because they’re so distinctive, you won’t accidentally pick one that will have you rushing to the hospital. So unless you’re forging for morels, stick to the grocery isles for your fresh mushrooms. Depending on where you live, morel season only lasts a few weeks a year in the months of April and May. So grab a basket and check out these tips for finding morels.
If your morel mushroom hunting adventure proves unfruitful, head over to the Firefly Grill for the best Fried Morels ever! Or if you want to play in your own kitchen, slip over to your local grocer (or farmer’s market) and see if they have any morels in the produce isle.
How to Make a Simple Mushroom Sauce
Making a mushroom sauce is one of the easier and quickest sauces you can pull together.
- Clean & cut 8 ounces mushrooms
- In a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat
- Add the mushrooms to the butter after it starts to foam, roll them around the pan to coat them in the fat
- After the mushrooms brown and release their liquid, put them and their juices in a bowl & set aside
- Melt another 2 tablespoons butter in the skillet, 2 tablespoons flour and stir
- After 2 minutes, whisk in 1 cup cold milk until it starts to simmer and thicken
- Stir in 1/4 cup dry sherry, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, and the mushrooms and their liquid back in
What really makes this recipe is dry sherry and the ground nutmeg. Use fresh ground nutmeg if you can!
Variations:
Garlic is very nice in this sauce. If you’re a fan of garlic, like I am, mince up 1 or 2 cloves and add them to the skillet right after the mushrooms start to brown. Lower the heat so you don’t burn the garlic. Another way to deepen the flavors even more, instead of 1 cup of milk, add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Simply heavenly!
This mushroom sauce is not only excellent over chicken but it’s fabulous over pork chops and steak too.
Why use a Sous Vide?
Sous Vide cooking is a great if you like easy cooking methods that are impossible to screw up. Pop your thawed boneless chicken breasts into a freezer ziplock bag with a little salt and pepper at 146F for 1-4 hours and it always comes out juicy and tender. Are your chicken breasts frozen? No problem! Just keep them in the sous vide for 3-8 hours.
If this wasn’t going to be chicken with mushroom sauce, I would give it a quick sear in a skillet to give it a little color.
The sous vide cooks food slowly and evenly without ever over cooking it. As an experiment, I’ve cooked a chicken breast at 146F in the sous vide for 24 hours and the texture was a little soft for my liking, but it was perfectly edible. Try cooking it in the oven for 24 hours and you’ll end up with a massive brick that might be useful as a doorstop. Check out Sous Vide Mag. for some really great info about the sous vide.
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If you’re in the market for one, check out the Amazon links. I’ve used both of them and I use them all the time!
What to serve with Sous Vide Chicken and Mushroom Sauce
Then try this rich and creamy recipe for morel mushrooms sauce over a delicate sous vide chicken breast. This is comfort food on the lighter side. Even though the sauce is completely decedent, the chicken is light, tender and juicy. Serve it with a side of rice pilaf with fresh herbs and toasted pecans and a salad. You can’t go wrong with a Garlic and Parmesan Salad or a simple spinach salad made with a light Italian vinaigrette, red onions, and mandarin oranges. Soooooo good!
Sous Vide Chicken Breast with Morel Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 3 chicken breasts thawed or frozen
- salt
Morel Mushroom Sauce
- 6-8 medium morels or 8 ounces button mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup dried shitake mushrooms broken up
- 2 cups boiling hot water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large shallot minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 4 tablespoons butter divided
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
Instructions
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Place the thawed or frozen chicken breasts in vacuum bags or ziplock bags. Place them in the sous vide at 146F for 2-4 hours. About 20 minutes before your ready to eat, start on the mushroom sauce.*
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Pour the 2 cups of boiling water over the dried shitake mushrooms to rehydrate them. Save the liquid to use later in this recipe.
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While the shitakes are hydrating, melt 2 tablespoons butter with the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Then add the chopped morels.
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When the shitakes are soft, add them to the morels. Reserve the liquid.
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Stir the mushrooms, coating them in the oil and butter for 3-4 minutes. After the morels soften and start to brown, turn down the heat to medium low and add the shallots. Stir for 2 minutes, then after they soften, add the garlic, salt and pepper.
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Push the mushroom mixture to the far edges of the skillet and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the center of the pan.
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After the butter has melted, add 1 tablespoon flour and whisk it until it bubbles and starts to turn an off white or slightly brown. Then whisk in the reserved mushroom water and sherry. Whisking the whole time until the sauce has thickened and there are no clumps.
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Stir in the cream and nutmeg. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt or pepper if needed.
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Remove chicken breasts from sous vide and slice. Spoon sauce over chicken, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*The mushroom sauce can also be made 2-3 days ahead and refrigerated in an air tight container. Reheat it in the microwave or stove top. It also freezes well for up to 2-3 months.
This is a great dish to serve with rice pilaf with fresh herbs and toasted pecans and a spinach salad made with a light vinaigrette, mandarin oranges, and red onions.
This mushroom sauce is also delicious over pork chops, pork loin, steak, pasta, rice, quinoa, over a poached egg, or mixed in with a tuna casserole. The possibilities are endless!
If you'd like to find out how to find morel mushrooms yourself check out my post https://lakesidetable.com/how-to-find-morel-mushrooms/