How to Make Chicken With Creamy Morel Sauce

Morel mushrooms, a reminder of thriving forests and fir trees, are a wonderful accompaniment to chicken. This deliciously creamy morel sauce will go well with almost any dish, but the generic flavor of the chicken showcases the complex flavors of the mushrooms.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Above ingredients
• Roasting pan
• Medium sauce pan
• Whisk
• 1 cup fresh morel mushrooms
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp. white truffle oil
• salt and white pepper to taste
• 1 ½ lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brush off any lingering dirt or pine needles from the morel mushrooms. Cut the very bottom of the stem off.
3. Cut the mushrooms into slices ¼-inch in width. Set aside.
4. Place the chicken breasts into a high-walled roasting pan and place them into the heated oven. Bake the chicken for approximately 20 minutes.
5. Melt the butter in a medium-sized sauce pan over low heat. If the butter starts to brown, take the pan off the heat to let the butter cool down.
6. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook them over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to wilt and release some of their fragrance and flavor. This should take approximately 3 minutes.
7. Once the mushrooms are very fragrant, add the flour to the pan and stir the mixture until the flour is well incorporated. Raise the heat to medium and cook the mixture for another 2 minutes, until the flour and butter mixture begins bubbling.
8. Add the cream to the pan and whisk until the roux has completely dissolved into the cream.
9. Bring the sauce just to a simmer and then lower the heat to medium-low.
10. Let the sauce simmer for the rest of the time that the chicken cooks. Stir the sauce occasionally to make certain that the bottom doesn’t burn.
11. 5 minutes before the chicken has finished, taste the sauce. Add the truffle oil and adjust the flavor to your personal taste by adding salt and white pepper to the sauce.
12. At 20 minutes, take the temperature of the chicken with a kitchen thermometer. Make certain to check the temperature in the thickest part of the meat. The chicken should reach a temperature of 170 degrees. If the chicken doesn’t reach that temperature, cook for another 5 minutes, then check the temperature again.
13. Serve the chicken with some of the sauce spooned over it.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also use dried morels. Rehydrate them with a 1/2 cup of hot water. Reserve the rehydrating water to use in the sauce. Add half of the rehydrating water at the same time as the cream.
• You might also try grilling the chicken instead of baking it. Grilling the chicken over wood chips is a wonderful way to infuse the chicken with a lovely smokey flavor.