This classic, creamy chicken dish makes a perfect romantic dinner for two
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 free-range skinless chicken breasts (see top tip, below)
- 1 small onion, peeled and sliced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and kept whole
- 100ml (3½fl oz) white wine
- 4 tbsp Madeira (or Marsala or dry sherry)
- 142ml carton double cream
- Knob of butter
- 3 portabellini or chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- New potatoes and sugar-snap peas, to serve
Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chicken, skinned-side down, along with the onion slices and garlic clove. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, then turn the chicken over and stir the onion occasionally.
Pour in the white wine and let it reduce by half. Stir in the Madeira and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the cream and simmer for a few more minutes, until heated through and thickened a little. Turn off the heat and leave to rest for a couple of minutes.
Heat the butter in a small pan and cook the mushrooms for 2 minutes.
Take the chicken out of the pan and slice it through, if you like. Reheat the sauce, remove the garlic, and spoon sauce on to 2 warm plates. Place the chicken on the sauce and arrange the mushrooms on top. Serve with potatoes and sugar-snap peas.
Top Tip
The chicken breasts will cook more quickly and evenly if you flatten them to an even thickness. Do this by putting them between 2 sheets of cling film and gently pounding them with a rolling pin until about 1.5cm (½in) thick.