All’s Well That Ends Well

Today I want to share with you one of my family’s favorite meals…..Chicken Stroganoff, a lighter version of the more well known beef stroganoff.  It is simple to prepare, can be made several days ahead of the time you plan to serve it, (it just gets better as it sits), and is one of those meals that after tasting it, people always request to have the recipe.  The way I happened to make it came about in one of those happy mishaps life sometimes gives us 🙂

If you have been visiting with us here at Two Chums for a while, you may remember the story of Meatlaof and Butterscotch Pudding.  If you haven’t read that post or are in need of a good Meatloaf recipe, a good Butterscotch pudding recipe, or are just in need of a good laugh, then take a minute, click on the link above and enjoy.

I bring up the story in that particular post because it happens to be the same cast of characters in this story.  I was very pregnant in that last story, in this one our daughter was a newborn.  My husband had been speaking with the friend who served me the meatloaf in that memorable meal and wanting to reciprocate for her hospitality, had invited her and her husband to come to our home for dinner.  No longer sick all the time from pregnancy, I was looking forward to having them for dinner and getting to know them better.

I carefully planned out the meal and shopped, and cleaned the apartment, and was happy to be having my husband, Randy’s good friends coming for dinner.  Though I scheduled myself to have things mostly ready so I wouldn’t have to be in the kitchen when they came, my hungry baby girl had another schedule in mind, so I hadn’t yet started to saute the 4 large chicken breasts I had bought to prepare for our main course.  Thankfully, the light hors d’oeuvres were made and on a tray in the living room awaiting our guests’ arrival.  The spinach for the salad was ready and waiting for the dressing to be added to it. The rice was made and staying warm on the stove.  The fresh sour dough bread was sliced and nestled in a napkin-lined basket ready to go on the table too.  Only the chicken was still waiting to be sauted and the mushroom sauce I was planing to make, waiting to be cooked and added.  It was to be a lovely dinner for four.

Now you have to realize that these were Randy’s friends from college days…friends who had known very well his former fiancee.  These were his friends whose only real impression of me was an evening where I spent as much time in the bathroom as I did at the dinner table.  So naturally I wanted them to like me and I badly wanted to make a good impression on them this time around.  The doorbell rang right on the dot of 7 pm.  Everything was going as planned until the front door swung open and the couple I was expecting to join us had somehow doubled and there stood four people instead!  As they made their way through the door,  they were announcing all smiles that they were all “very, very hungry”.

I shot a quick glance Randy’s way as if to say “What is going on?!!!! Why are there 4 of them?”  But his face revealed that he was as surprised as I was.  A moment of panic set in.  I had 4 chicken breasts for 6 people, two of which were a firefighter and a 6’4″ athlete who had just announced that they were starving.  Our apartment only had one door so there was no way to sneak out a back door and run to the market and get more chicken without them knowing.  And the last thing I wanted to do was to tell them I was only expecting two of them.

I excused myself, went into the kitchen and prayed for a “loaves and fishes” miracle…for some way to stretch the 4 pieces of chicken I had into something that would be ample enough to serve us all.  Randy came in to the kitchen to check on me and I implored him in hushed whispers to keep them busy talking while I figured a way out of this dilemma.  He returned to the living room and I stood there in my kitchen having a “Lucy” moment without the aid of her trusted sidekick”Ethel”.

I glanced around the kitchen in utter desperation looking for some sort of inspiration to help me out of this problem.   Suddenly it came to me.  My mother had often made beef stroganoff when she had dinner parties, probably because she could make the stroganoff a few days ahead of time and because it could feed a crowd easily.  In the absence of beef, why not make stroganoff out of chicken instead?  I had plenty of mushrooms for the sauce I had planned for the chicken breasts.  I always had plenty of onions and I happened to have a large carton of sour cream in the refrigerator that I hadn’t opened yet, and gratefully a bottle of sherry that I was going to use for my mushroom sauce.  While we had always eaten the beef stroganoff over buttered noodles, rice was going to be the accompaniment for this meal.

I chopped and sauted and stirred and prayed and lo and behold….It worked!!!!  It didn’t just stretch the 4 chicken breasts into a meal for 6….there was plenty and it was delicious.  They LOVED it and asked immediately for the recipe.  It instantly became one of Randy’s favorite meals and over the years has been one of the most requested dishes by our children, extended family and friends alike.  So what started out as a hostess’s nightmare became a lovely serendipity.  You never know when a near tragedy is about to turn into a great big blessing!  As Shakespeare so aptly put it…”All’s Well That Ends Well” 🙂

Chicken Stroganoff  

Makes 6-8 servings

4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb. mushrooms sliced
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stick of butter
24 oz. sour cream (3 cups)
1/2 – 3/4 cup sherry
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Melt 1/2 the butter in a large frying pan.

Add onions and 2 cloves of minced garlic and saute until lightly browned.

Add in mushrooms.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and continue cooking until mushrooms are softened and are lightly browned as well.

While onions and mushrooms are cooking, cut the chicken into 1 inch bite-sized pieces.  When onion mushroom mixture is done, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and add the second 1/2 stick of butter to pan.  While it is melting, add in remaining 1 clove minced garlic.  Add chicken.  Stir in remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over a medium flame until chicken is browned.

Return onions and mushrooms to the pan with the chicken.

Stir in the  sherry and allow this to cook down until only about 3-4 Tablespoons of liquid remains in the pan.

Stir in the sour cream and simmer, heating through but do not allow this to come to a boil as sour cream will curdle if you allow it to boil.

Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed.  If sauce seems too thin or you just prefer a thicker sauce, add 1 scant tablespoon of corn starch to 2 tablespoons of sherry and mix together.  Stir into sauce.  It will thicken the sauce in moments.  Keep warm over a low flame until ready to serve.  If you are making this for a future meal, remove from heat, cool and store in a covered container in the refrigerator.  Stroganoff can be made 3-4 days before you plan to serve it.  The flavor actually becomes better after it sits.  Reheat over a low flame until sauce just begins to bubble.  Serve over rice.

By the way…This is a recipe for abundant living 🙂