Mushroom Chicken

A lady from my MOMS Club made this for us after Ben was born. It was soooo good that I asked for the recipe. I'm going to make it tonight for dinner. Here it goes:

Mushroom Chicken

Very easy: you need 2 or 3 large chicken breasts, 1 sliced onion, garlic (I buy ready pressed garlic from trader Joe's in a jar, very good) sliced crimini mushrooms from TJ's, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, red wine or brown ale, a little flour to thicken the sauce.

Pound the chicken breast so you get thin chicken (like for chicken picatta.) and cut flattened breasts into halves. Salt and pepper each piece to taste. On a large skillet with a little oil, brown one side of the chicken so it looks nice and golden.

I the meantime on another large somewhat flat pan or casserole, heat some olive oil and cook the sliced onions till translucent, then add 2 teaspoons of the pressed garlic (or 2-3 mashed cloves) mix well so garlic doesn't burn, and when it all smells really good add the mushrooms and turn heat down a bit and cover to let the mushrooms wilt down. For moisture, Add 1 cup of chicken or beef stock but I've also used water when I am out of stock. Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Cover and let simmer for a bit. Then transfer in your chicken which has been browned on one side ( I don't brown both sides so that one raw side will better absorb the juices while cooking in the sauce) and let it cook in the sauce until chicken is done (about 15 min or so)

The final step is to add the wine or beer and thicken the sauce with flour. I add one cup of red wine if I have left over wine from the night before, but If i don't and I don't feel like opening a new bottle, I use a 12 ounce bottle of brown or dark ale (from TJ's of course!). Pour the whole thing in and keep the heat medium high for about 5 minutes to let the alcohol evaporate. Then I take about 1/2 cup of liquid out the the pan and I add 1 tablespoon of white flour to the liquid and stir very well (a whisk works great) until you have no clumps and then you can add this flour mixture to the pan and try to mix it all over the pan and turn your heat to low and let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so and the sauce will thicken. Turn off and keep covered to stay warm until you serve. Serve over steaming white rice.