Recipes by Zola - Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with a Boursin-Mushroom Sauce

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Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with a Boursin-Mushroom Sauce

Zola Gorgon

Editor's Note: Zola is still floating around the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise ship. We are sure she is going to return with lots of fun stories, but in the meantime we are running this oldie but goodie from the archives. Also, before she left, Zola’s computer crashed and the email wizards have not yet been able to restore her Zola Mail, so she sends her regrets. She has not been able to answer Zola mail for over two weeks now and will not be able to get it until she returns but she promises to answer all of it in early May.

Margaret Hamilton "Reincarnated"

I have a brand new fashion accessory. It's black and shiny, sort of the patent-leather look. It fits like a glove, and while it looks awkward, uncomfortable, and in some respects downright silly, everyone is wearing them.

It's my new bike helmet.

Oh yeah, I got a new bike too.

I had been reading about a special bike in a catalog. My husband has been hinting that maybe he'd like to get a bike to ride short distances in Chicago or maybe do longer rides along the lakeshore. This bike looked like it would do the trick, so I showed it to him. He jumped all over the idea and we decided we'd both get bikes for an Easter treat.

He got his first. Mine had to be ordered. It's called an Amsterdam bike. It's the bike that commuters all over Europe ride to work; especially those in the Netherlands; where just about everyone rides a bike to work. It looks very retro. People stop and stare and say, "Hey, cool bike!"

We both got black bikes with white trim. They have a very comfortable brown leather seat; the old-fashioned kind that is triangular in shape. It looks like the seat is right out of the 50's except it has a special, new spring system in it that absorbs the shocks of pot holes and speed bumps really well. The handlebars are my favorite. They stick out quite wide and sort of wrap around toward you as you sit straight up on your seat. I was so used to racing bikes where you bend forward over the bars, this is really different. It's got fenders, a chain cover and even that little flap on the bottom of the back fender that keeps rain from splashing up at your butt. I got the one with the wicker basket on the front too! I can just see me coming back from the farmers market with carrots, leeks and flowers sticking out the top of my basket.

My first moments on the bike were harrowing! I had not been on a bike in 26 years. They say you never forget how to ride, but you'd never know if you saw me starting off! I wobbled like a little 5 year old; unsteady and downright petrified! It was hilarious!

Once I was comfortable enough to measure my emotions and physical state I started laughing. I felt like I was on the top of a double-decker bus! I was up so high! The perfect vision of me riding this bike is to recall Margaret Hamilton in the early scenes of The Wizard of Oz. She's riding down a country road in Kansas. I could even hear that little "do-do, do-do" ditty in my head as I rode along.

Then came a couple of shocks! I had heard what to do, but had not absorbed the instructions that had been given to my husband 2 weeks before. I wanted to stop, and my first inclination was to grab the brakes below the handlebars. Nothing! I squeezed a few times in panic and then remembered I had a coaster brake. I had not experienced stopping a bike in that fashion since I was about 11 years old. I had to think fast and work out how to do that.

Okay, I was fine. No crash, so I started out again. This time I was approaching a stop sign and decided to slow down before I did my breaking. Well, when I rode a race bike I used to back peddle while I was coasting. I did it this time, just out of habit, and about sent myself reeling over the front of the bike! How short can my memory get! I had just stopped using the same method of peddling backward and this time I thought I was just going to spin. Instead I had slammed on my brakes! I didn't need to learn that lesson twice!

So we stuck to side streets for quite some time. I just wanted to be able to ride my bike and breathe. I also had to master the gear shifting. There are only 3 gears on an Amsterdam bike. The real big difference in shifting is you shift while you coast. I was used to just the opposite on a racing bike. This whole bike-riding thing was going to take some getting used to!

Then we hit traffic. Crossing up to 4 lanes to get across an intersection; even on a Sunday afternoon was not something I relished. I got through it though.

My biggest fear going forward is that those driving in cars are going to assume I'm one of the usual, insane bikers who weave in and out of traffic like kamikazes on a mission. Those folks know what they are doing. I sure don't. I'm hoping the drivers will see that I'm on this retro bike, I'm not 20 years old and that I'm just trying to enjoy my sunny afternoon. Do you think they can take all that in and give some slack? We'll see.

Now to today's recipe. It's a new entree I developed last week. I had a hankering for a creamy sauce for chicken and decided the easiest way to make a French chicken cheese sauce would be to borrow from the selection of French cheeses. I had never thought of using Boursin in a sauce before. I'm sure others have, but it was news to my brain.

This dish is very easy and tastes good enough to serve to company too. I've even added a couple of easy side dish recommendations at the end of the recipe.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with a Boursin-mushroom sauce

Serves 4

For the Chicken

4 skinless chicken breast halves, washed and dried
2 cups milk (skim or 2% are fine)
Cornmeal for dusting, 1 cup should do it
3 Tbl butter, divided
2 Tbl Extra virgin olive oil

For the Sauce

4 shallots peeled and diced
1 cup chicken broth
2 - 4.4 ounce packages of Boursin cheese. Garlic and herb flavored. You'll find this in tubs in the cheese section
16 oz. sliced button mushrooms (or if you want to be fancy you can use any exotic mushrooms. Morels are in season, or cremini, chanterelles, etc.)
8 cherry tomatoes cut in half

Put the milk in a shallow baking pan (9 X 13 inch). Place the chicken in with the milk and let it soak 15 - 30 minutes. If you are going to leave it longer, put it in the refrigerator.

Place the cornmeal on a dinner plate. Take each piece of chicken out of the milk and dredge it in the cornmeal. That means place it in the cornmeal, press down on it so the cornmeal adheres to the chicken. Using a fork, turn the chicken over and do this on the other side so the entire piece of chicken is coated in cornmeal. Do this with all 4 pieces.

Get out a large sauté pan and heat the olive oil and 2 Tbl of the butter. When the butter is melted add the chicken. Sauté on medium until the first side of the chicken gets a nice brown crust. This should take about 5 minutes. Don't be tempted to peek. If you move the chicken around too much the coating will flake off. That won't make it inedible but it will not be as pretty. Turn the chicken over, golden side up.

At this point you have a decision to make. The easiest thing is to take the chicken out and put it in a 9 X 13 heat proof pan and put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. It will finish cooking unattended. Drizzle the butter on the chicken when you put it in the baking dish.

Or...You can also leave it in the sauté pan and continue to sauté on low until the chicken is done. If you do this you have to keep an eye on it. Many folks would end up with chicken that is too dark and chicken that has been flipped with the cornmeal crust coming off but if you're really good at it, this will work. You choose.

While the chicken is continuing to cook you can make your sauce.

In a medium sauce pan add your shallots and chicken broth. Reduce on medium high until it's half as much liquid as when you started. You should have about a cup in the pan. This is called a reduction.

While the liquid is reducing take out a medium sauté pan, melt the last Tbl of butter and put in the mushrooms. Sauté them on medium high until their edges start to brown.

Now for the really easy part. When the reduction is ready, take out your tubs of Boursin and scoop them into the hot liquid. Turn off the heat and just stir the cheese until it melts. You'll have a beautiful, smooth sauce. If you have to re-heat it, be careful to do it on very low heat so you don't separate it or scorch your sauce.

When ready to serve, put the chicken on the plate. Add the mushrooms and raw tomatoes to the sauce and spoon it over the chicken. Leave some of the crunchy, cornmeal crust showing and let the sauce drizzle down the sides.

Serve with simple boiled red potatoes and green beans. Taste it and you'll think you just flew to France.

This news arrived on: 04/30/2007

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