Delicious Sunday Dinner

For many families, Sunday dinner is a big deal and perhaps the best meal of the week. I have been so swamped with my school schedule/kids/house and my helper/husband has been out of town for the last three weeks. As a result of double the workload but not double the hours in the day, I have barely been able to get dinner on the table, let alone get an awesome dinner on the table. 

“Not tonight”, I said to myself as my taste buds were screaming for something a little more satisfying than macaroni and bleh. As you could see from my Instagram story, this dinner was the exact opposite of “bleh” and I am so happy to share it with you guys! Our main dish was chicken breasts in the most mouthwatering white wine mushroom sauce, perfect creamy parmesan risotto topped with more delectable parmesan, and brussels sprouts with bacon – your new favorite side dish!

Chicken with white wine mushroom sauce:

Takes about 35 minutes.

• 4 chicken breasts, cleaned and pounded to 1/4 inch thickness. (I normally fillet two breasts to end up with 4 thin ones without having to pound them out)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup dry white wine (white cooking wine or vermouth work too)
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tsp flour
• 1 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp fresh thyme

Directions:

Preheat large skillet over med-high heat and add in 1 tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle desired amount of salt and pepper and garlic powder over both sides of all chicken pieces.
Cook 4-5 minutes on each side until completely cooked through. Once cooked through, move to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add the other 1 tbsp of olive oil to skillet and cook shallots and mushrooms till soft, about 5 minutes.

Add in minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly for another minute. Pour in white wine and scrape all the good bits off the bottom of the pan. Let cook for 3-4 minutes or until slightly reduced.

Sprinkle 2 tsp of flour over the mushroom, shallot, garlic and wine mixture and stir until blended thoroughly and thickened. Stir in chicken broth and cook until it starts to reduce, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and pop in your room temperature pat of butter along with the fresh thyme. Stir to incorporate and let flavors blend for a second, then add your cooked chicken back into the pan and give it a nice bath with the delicious sauce you just made!

Recipe adapted from https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/chicken-with-mushroom-sauce-0

Risotto has a reputation for being difficult to get just right, but don’t let that scare you away from making your own. The recipe below should be followed exactly if you want perfect, creamy, restaurant quality risotto. 

Parmesan risotto:

Takes about 30-40 minutes of patience and close attention.

• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup of onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice, uncooked
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 5 oz fresh parmesan cheese, grated (the better quality, the better flavor at the end!)
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Directions:

Pour chicken stock into a medium pot over medium-high heat. Once it begins to steam and bubble, turn heat down to med-low and leave it there. 

Heat a Dutch oven or cast iron pot over medium heat and pour olive oil and coat the bottom of the pot. (Everything will go into this pot from here on). 

Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Add Arborio rice and salt and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Add 1/2 cup of warm stock and cook 2 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups stock and cook 4 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.

Gradually add remaining stock 3/4 cup at a time, stirring nearly constantly until each portion is absorbed before adding the next. (You will begin to see risotto gradually become creamier and creamier with each addition, if you don’t slow down and let the rice absorb the broth).

Reserve 1/3 cup stock at last addition. Stir in reserved remaining stock, butter, pepper, and cheese.

Top the risotto with parsley.

Original recipe at https://www.graceandgoodeats.com/creamy-parmesan-risotto/

Lastly, the veg. This recipe was passed down from my mom and can be made with peas, or green beans too!

Brussels with bacon:

Takes about 20 minutes.

• 1 1/2 pound of brussels sprouts, cleaned and quartered (tiny ones can be halved)
• 8 oz bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (white cooking wine or vermouth work too)
• Salt and pepper to taste (I omit the salt since there is bacon in the dish)

Directions:

Preheat large skillet over medium heat and cook bacon until it reaches desired level of doneness. Remove skillet from heat.
Move bacon to plate with a paper towel to soak up grease.
Get a few more paper towels and soak grease out of skillet but don’t clean all the brown bits off the bottom. *Use a fork or tongs to handle the paper towels as the grease will be hot.

Replace the pan on the warm burner and turn heat to medium-high, then add in half the olive oil.

Add onions to hot skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, or until translucent.
Add garlic and cook another 1 minute – do not let garlic brown.
Add brussels and season with pepper; cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Brussels will soften and all edges will become light brown.

Once brussels are browned and softened, crank the heat up to high and wait for about 15 seconds for the pan to get really hot. (now for the fun part…)
Pour your dry white wine into the pan and carefully swirl the pan to let all of the brussels touch the wine before it mostly evaporates. (the wine will quickly steam so keep face and hands away from the skillet)

Turn the heat down to medium and add in the cooked, crumbled bacon. Stir to incorporate. Enjoy!

*Optional- top with freshly shredded parmesan cheese.

I’d love to hear what you thought of this Sunday night dinner! Leave a comment below 🙂

♥Mia