Company’s Coming Chicken, An Elegant and Easy Dinner
A couple of years ago my Aunt taught me a recipe she had learned almost 40 years ago from a recipe card she found in a magazine at the check out counter. The recipe was delicious and really easy. Like I do with all recipes I am taught, I thought up ways I could modify it to make it my own. This is how the idea of this recipe for Company’s Coming Chicken was born. I thought about the recipe my Aunt taught me and took into consideration that Mr. Tipsy is always asking me to make Chicken Cordon Bleu and this recipe was born. An elegant and easy dinner.
An Elegant and Easy Dinner
What I love about this recipe for Company’s Coming Chicken, is that it is so simple, yet so elegant. My cousin asked me to come over last week and cook for her new boyfriend and his sister. I wanted to make something special, but something easy for a busy day. This recipe was perfect. I was able to grab all the ingredients from one store andI was able to assemble and cook this elegant dinner in less than an hour. It probably would have taken me less time if I wasn’t drinking wine while making it. The other great thing about this recipe is that it costs very little and it feeds at least 8 to 10 people. Let me share with you what you will need to make this Company’s Coming Chicken that is an elegant and easy dinner.
The Ingredients
- 2 lbs of thinly sliced chicken cutlets
- 2 C + 1 T of flour
- 4 T of seasoning salt
- 2 sticks of butter
- 1/4 c of olive oil
- 2 C of white wine
- 2 to 3 C of mushrooms
- 1 T of worcestershire sauce
- 13 oz of brie cheese
- 1/2 lb of shaved deli ham
- 1 box of Chateau Czech style bread dumplings or 12 slices of french bread
- garlic salt & pepper
- 1 package of fresh thyme
The brie cheese is easily found in any grocery store specialty cheese section. If you have a hard time finding the cheese where you live, you can easily substitute a nice quality Swiss cheese for the brie. The other ingredient I use are Chateau Bread Dumplings. Chateau Bread Dumplings can be found in many grocery stores in the frozen food section. They are a slightly different texture than regular bread and they absorb the sauce in this dish really well, without getting soggy. If you can’t find Chateau Bread Dumplings in your store you can sub french bread slices or sourdough.
Get Cooking
Now that you have all your ingredients assembled, the rest is easy. This recipe is easily made in four steps. I included detailed step by step instructions on the recipe card below, but I just want to highlight a few tricks for each step that I think will help you make this recipe perfect. Take our time while making this recipe so that it comes out perfect and an elegant and easy dinner.
Cooking The Chicken
A couple of things you want to keep in mind when making the chicken are to make sure you buy thinly sliced chicken cutlets. This way you do not have to flatten them out yourself. If you cannot find thinly sliced chicken cutlets, make sure you flatten them all to an even thickness so that they cook properly. The other trick to the chicken is to make sure you let it sit out while preparing the other steps so that it is almost room temperature when you go to fry them in your skillet. IF the chicken is too cold, it will cool your butter and oil and your chicken will be too greasy.
Cooking The Mushrooms
You can use any mushrooms you choose for this recipe. I prefer bellas and white mushrooms. I do not salt the mushrooms in this recipe until the end of cooking. Salt draws water out of the mushrooms, so if you salt them while you are cooking, your mushrooms will be watered down. I use the Worcestershire sauce for seasoning and when I have removed the mushrooms from the heat, I salt and pepper them to my preference.
Using Bread Dumplings
You can most definitely use French bread for this recipe or sourdough. It will still be delicious. I just love using the Chateau Bread Dumplings for the taste and texture. If you are not familiar with Czech Bread Dumplings, do a google search and you will learn about this Czech staple. This particular brand is the ONLY one on the market and they are made by hand in Chicago for the last 92 years. I love supporting a small family business and they are delicious.
Making The Sauce
The sauce is very simple, but it is the highlight of the recipe. You want to make sure to use the wine to “deglaze” the pan. When you pour the wine in, you will hear that hot sizzle and you want to use that opportunity to scrape up all those flavorful meaty bits from the bottom of the pan. The flavors from the chicken and your seasoning will be what add depth and flavor to this sauce.
A dinner your guests will never forget….
Your guests are going to be so impressed with this meal. I like to serve a beautiful salad with this dish and some crisp white wine. You will not need to serve much more with this dish because it is a complete meal in itself. Company’s Coming Chicken has it all, the cheese course, the proteins, the vegetables and the bread! Be prepared to share this recipe with anyone who eats it, unless you don’t want to let them know how easy it was to make. I think you will love this recipe as much as we do. Thank you for reading and happy eating!
Love, Tipsy
Company's Coming Chicken
An elegant, yet simple recipe for special guests and special occasions. Pan fried chicken, a mushroom, white wine sauce, served on top of toasted bread dumplings with shaved ham and brie.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of thinly sliced chicken cutlets
- 2 C + 1 T of flour
- 4 T of seasoning salt
- 2 sticks of butter
- 1/4 c of olive oil
- 2 C of white wine
- 2 to 3 C of mushrooms
- 1 T of worcestershire sauce
- 13 oz of brie cheese
- 1/2 lb of shaved deli ham
- 1 box of Chateau Czech style bread dumplings or 12 slices of french bread
- garlic salt & pepper
- 1 package of fresh thyme
Instructions
- Thaw your bread dumplings, spread one side with softened butter, then heat a skillet with 4 T of butter and fry the bread dumplings (or french bread) on both sides until crispy and golden brown. When they are nearly done, sprinkle both sides with garlic salt and pepper and transfer to a cookie sheet to cool.
- Take your chicken out of the package and season your 2 cups of flour with the seasoning salt. Stir the flour and the salt until it is well combined. Place your chicken cutlets in the flour mixture and press down, flip and do the same to the other side, so that the whole cutlets is floured. Place on a dish to the side to cook later. Repeat process until all your cutlets are floured.
- In the same pan as the bread dumplings were fried, add 4 more tablespoons of butter and add your mushrooms. I like to cook my mushrooms for quite some time, until they are a crispy golden brown. You can cook yours until your preferred level of doneness. When they are fully cooked, add the worcestershire sauce to the pan and toss all the mushrooms in the sauce. Set the mushroom aside.
- You will need a second skillet to cook the chicken and make the sauce. Heat a skillet with 4 tablespoons of butter and 1/4 c of olive oil. Then add the chicken cutlets a few at a time. You will need to cook the chicken in batches. The chicken should be very thin and will only need a few minutes on each side. Cook each side for about 4 to 6 minutes. Do not flip often because you want that flour to create a crust on the chicken. As your chicken cooks, set it aside on a clean plate while you finish cooking all the pieces.
- When you have finished cooking all the chicken and it is all set aside, add your wine to the same pan that you used for the chicken. Use a spatula to scrape up all the meaty seasoned bits from the bottom. When the wine starts to simmer, reduce the heat, swirl the remaining butter you have left in the wine and continue to let simmer. Add about 5 or 6 stems of the fresh thyme and let this all sit simmering for about 10 minutes.
- Now you will take your brie, ham and bread dumplings and assemble. Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Smear a decent amount of brie on each bread slice, then top with a slice or two of ham. When you have topped all the bread dumplings, place in oven for about 12 minutes, just until the cheese is melted.
- While the mixture simmers, mix your 2 T of flour with 1/2 c of cold water and whisk until smooth. Set aside. You may or may not need to use this.
- After the wine has simmer for 10 minutes,check the consistency. It should glaze the back of a spoon. If it isn't, whisk in the flour water mixture a little at a time until it is the desired consistency. Add in your cooked mushrooms. Then, add your chicken to this pan and flip the chicken around in the sauce to coat it with the sauce.
- Pull your bread dumplings from the oven. Top each bread dumpling with a piece of chicken, some of the pan sauce and some of the mushrooms.
- Enjoy