You can use this excellent sauce on many things – from seared pork chops to pasta, or to fancy-up steamed vegetables or that charcoal chook you picked up on the way home.

It's a cut above a basic mushroom sauce, with a splash of white wine and chicken stock adding depth of flavour, plus parmesan cheese for seasoning and thickening (rather than using heaps of cream).

In this recipe, I'm pairing it with chicken breasts – because who doesn't plonk chicken breasts in their trolley, week after week? (Vegetarians are excused.)

It's simple enough for a midweek dinner, yet fancy enough for company. Serve with buttered steamed potatoes and snowpeas for an elegant dinner. Or put it out on a platter with a big bowl of piping hot mashed potatoes and a leafy green salad for a rustic family-style meal.

PS. There's plenty of sauce. Because no one's ever accused me of skimping on sauce. And they never will!

Chicken with creamy mushroom sauce

The lightly floured crust on the chicken makes it crispy, and gives the sauce something to cling to, so don't skip it!

INGREDIENTS

Crispy chicken

• 600g chicken breasts (2 large breasts)
• ½ tsp salt
• black pepper
• ¼ cup flour
• 15g unsalted butter

Mushroom sauce

• 30g unsalted butter
• 300g mushrooms, sliced (button or swiss brown)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup dry white wine or rosé (or sub more chicken stock)
• ½ cup chicken or vegetable stock, low sodium
• 1 cup thickened cream, full fat
• ½ cup finely grated parmesan
• 2 tbsp chives, finely chopped, to serve (optional – sub parsley, spring onions, or omit)

METHOD

1. Cut each breast in half horizontally to form 4 thin steaks in total.
2. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour and use your fingers to spread it all over the surface.
3. Melt 15g butter in a large nonstick frypan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook each side for 2½ minutes, until golden brown and just cooked through. Remove from pan, cover and keep warm.
4. In the same frypan, add remaining 30 grams of butter and increase heat to high.
5. Add mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes until starting to turn golden brown on the edges. Then add garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper, and continue cooking for another minute until garlic and mushrooms are golden.
6. Add white wine – it will be steamy! Cook for 30 seconds, scraping the bottom of the pan, until it's mostly evaporated and the winey smell is gone.
7. Add chicken stock, cook for 1 minute so it mostly evaporates. Then add cream, lower heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes until it reduces and thickens slightly.
8. Stir in parmesan, taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed.
9. Return chicken into the sauce for 30 seconds to warm through. Garnish with chives and serve straight from the pan, for people to help themselves (or transfer to serving platter). Alternatively, put a piece of chicken on each plate, spoon over sauce and garnish with more chives. Serve with mashed or boiled potatoes or rice – something to soak up that amazing sauce!

Serves 4

Notes:

• Chicken thighs will also work a treat here. For best results, pound lightly to even out the thickness.
• Grate your own parmesan, because it melts better in the sauce. Store-bought grated cheese is not fine enough (though it's OK if that's all you've got).
• Switch out chicken for pork chops or steak. Swoon!

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