First of all, I forgot to take a picture and I’m so sorry because this dinner was wonderful AND really pretty on the plate.
I used a recipe from the current issue of Cooks Illustrated Magazine (my favorite cooking mag) as the basis for Chicken with Porcini. It had a couple of techniques which were new to me and I enjoyed learning them. One thing was halving the boneless chicken breasts horizontally before pounding them to a quarter inch thickness which made so much sense. Instead of pounding away, just a few whacks makes perfect cutlets. The recipe also has you mix the briefly reconstituted dried porcini with chicken broth. I think that helped add to the richness of mushroom flavor. I ground some porcini in my spice grinder to mix with the dredging flour for the cutlets. These porcini were some I’d brought home from Acqui Terme and they are really full of that wonderful earthy mushroom essence.
I made some polenta to go with the chicken and for the first time, I used milk to cook the polenta. Didn’t love it. I think I’ll go back to the water, olive oil and bay leaves next time.
The chicken with sauce was a beautiful rich brown and the polenta a nice bright yellow so use your imagination and you’ll see how it looked great on the plate.
We drank a Merlot from Iron Horse in Paso. I thought it matched well wih the earthiness of the dish without overwhelming it.