Chicken with mushrooms and almonds

Back to good old regular everyday life, I am not complaining, I am a fairly calm person but I do miss my friend. We had a great time this week end, it's always good to catch up with a close girl friend whom you haven't seen in a couple years. My credit card would definitely disagree with that though... Now it's time to look back at everything, return some items I don't really need even though I really love them and make the summary of the awesome time we had.

One of my favorite things to do is cook when I have company, some friends help and that is awesome (DD if you read me, we have a cooking date pending that is long overdue :) ), and other are there for conversation and company, which is really nice too, makes cooking even more enjoyable.

So on the list of awesome things I bought this week end is one more Le creuset wide and fairly low cast iron dish, I used it on Saturday and am totally in love with it, enameled cast iron totally rocks!!! and so does this dish. It is a slightly modified of this recipe, that is actually even different in the book and on the website. The recipe is supposed to be for 4 people but I swear it can feed 8, if you count only one thigh per person. I am giving here the halved recipe as the full one does require a very big dish (mine was perfect!!!!)

Ingredients

- 4 chicken thighs

- 1 onion minced

- 1 garlic clove smashed

- 1 lb mushrooms cleaned and sliced (I used shitake and baby bellas)

- 1/2 c white wine

- 3 to 4 c chicken stock

- 2 bay leaves

- 1 small bundle of thyme tied with kitchen twine

- 1/4 c blanched almonds toasted

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

Instructions

- Coat a deep pan with olive oil and heat over high heat, generously season the chicken and place skin side down in the pan. You should hear a big sizzle, if you don't remove and try again later. Let the chicken brown well (5-6 min) it won't want to move until it is ready so that should help you, if it won't move, leave it alone!!! Season the other side and flip to brown. Once that is done, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Discard the fat, reduce the heat and add a little bit of olive oil, add the onions, season, and cook until tender, add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes stirring frequently. Add the mushroom, season well, and cook until they release their juices and become soft.

- Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Return chicken, skin side up and add chicken stock to almost cover the chicken, add bay leaves and thyme. Let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, you want you chicken to be cooked all the way through. Add more chicken stock if needed, I did not need to.

- In the mean time puree the almonds with some olive oil in the food processor into a loose paste. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve, taste and adjust seasoning if needed, add the almond paste, bring to a boil and simmer to thicken. You won't taste the almonds but they will make the sauce rich and creamy without cream (AMAZING!!!)

I served it with mashed potatoes, it was a creamy, satisfying and yet healthy dish, I LOVED it!!!! (can you tell?)

Mashed potatoes is another interesting topic, I like mine smooth and I believe that the perfect texture is obtained with a food mill, I had to leave min in France so I cheat and use the food processor but it gives a bit of a gummy texture to my taste... you can fake the food mill by using a  sieve but this will be one heck of a work out for your shoulders if you makes more than a couple servings... I still have painful memories of that experiment... I usually leave the skin on my potatoes and season with salt and nutmeg, depending on how decadent I want them to be I use skim milk, cream, and/or butter. They are a perfect side for anything that has a sauce :).

Now I will get started on my Thanksgiving menu!!!! (no, a turkey for 2 people is NOT ridiculous!!!!)