Chicken with Mustard Wine Cream Sauce

This very well might be my all-time favorite dependable easy-but-elegant dinner recipe. Manageable enough to make for a crowd, easy enough to make for a lovely weeknight supper, elegant enough for entertaining, and 1000% reliable. Now, how many things can you say THAT about?

Here’s what you do: take a couple of boneless chicken breasts and pound them with a mallet or the bottom of a jar until they are nice and flat and all your frustrations are worked out. Heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and lay those babies in there. Grind some fresh pepper on top and sprinkle them with salt, and don’t touch them for 6 minutes, then flip them over. Cook another 6 minutes, and by now they are nice and brown and done. Take them out and put them on a plate and cover them with foil. Now pour ¼ cup of white wine into the pan, and let it boil for about a minute. Pour in ½ cup cream, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and about 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme and stir it all up until it is simmering nicely. Add in any juices from the plate where the chicken is resting. Let it simmer for about two minutes, during which time you can steam some nice thin asparagus.

The assembly: Nice little pool of mustard sauce on the plate. Lay some asparagus on top of the sauce. Chicken on top of that. Drizzle more sauce over all. Grinding of fresh pepper on the top. Light some candles, pour a glass of merlot, and dinner is served. How easy is that?

This fabulous sauce also works wonders with veal cutlets, shrimp and filet mignon. Just so you know. I wouldn't pour it over chocolate chip cookies, but pretty much anything else can benefit from a nice dose of mustard sauce. Don't you think?

Chicken with Mustard Wine Cream Sauce, adapted from Everyday Food

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 ounces each)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine, or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  

1. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; saute until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate; keep warm.
2. Pour wine into hot skillet; cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Whisk in cream, mustard, and thyme. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour any accumulated chicken juices into sauce. Right before serving, pour a little cream sauce on plate. Place chicken (with any veggies you are using, I like asparagus) on top, and drizzle remaining sauce over chicken.

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