Chicken and Artichokes in White Wine Sauce

Admittedly, chicken and artichokes in white wine sauce sounds pretty fancy for Tuesday night dinner for the family. Judging from the picture above, it even looks restaurant-worthy. That's the beauty of this recipe....it's so versatile! Elegant enough for a romantic date or a dinner party with friends, but quick and easy enough for a 30-minute dinner after a busy day. I was crazy about this recipe! The flavors were wonderful and as I just said (um, typed) it came together easily.

To start I mixed together flour, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Then I pounded the chicken breast so that they were a uniform 1/2"(approximately) thickness to insure quick and even cooking. I sprinkled the chicken breasts with a bit of salt before dredgeding in the flour and seasoning mixture.

While I coated the chicken, I heated some oil in a large skillet. Then I transferred the chicken to the hot oil and cooked for about 10 minutes, flipping them a couple of times until the juices ran clear and they were no longer pink. Transfer the chicken to a serving dish and keep warm.

Next, I tossed a tablespoon of butter into the same skillet and heated until just bubbly. Then add in artichokes (I used canned marinated artichoke hearts, slightly chopped) and sliced mushrooms. Saute, stirring frequently, until everything starts to brown up a bit.

While the artichokes and mushrooms saute, mix the wine and chicken broth together with a tablespoon of the flour mixture that you used to coat the chicken. Whisk until smooth- as in NO LUMPS! Note: I didn't have any white wine on hand, so I just doubled the amount of chicken broth.

Slowly stir the liquid into the skillet and cook and stir some more until thickened and bubbly. I actually added a bit more of the flour mixture than called for, so I ended up pouring in additional chicken broth to thin the sauce. This worked out just fine, because the end result was more of that delicious sauce to top the chicken!

To serve, just pour the artichoke/mushroom sauce over the cooked chicken and sprinkle with parmesan and fresh chopped parsley. Mmmmmm!

Now some of you are probably thinking, "Gee Krista, that looks great...but my kids would never eat that."  Well, my kids wouldn't eat it either. At least, not with the sauce. Both seem to have an aversion to mushrooms and artichokes. But they LOVED the plain breaded chicken breast. I set aside a portion for them before I added the sauce and served it up with a side of broccoli. It was a grown up dinner and a kid dinner all in one!

Here's the recipe, slightly altered from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Chicken and Artichokes in Wine Sauce

1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 8 or 9 ounce package frozen artichoke hearts or 1 jar canned artichoke hearts, drained
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

1. In a shallow dish, stir together flour, poultry seasoning,salt,and pepper; reserve one tablespoon of flour mixture. Coat chicken in remaining flour mixture.

2. In a large skillet cook chicken in hot oil over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until no longer pink (170 degrees F), turning once. Remove chicken from skillet; cover and keep warm.

3. In the same skillet, cook mushrooms and artichoke hearts in hot butter over medium heat until artichokes are tender and slightly browned.

4. In a small bowl stir together reserved flour mixture, wine, broth, and salt until smooth. Add wine mixture to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley and cheese.

Notes: I pounded my chicken breasts to flatten them into a more uniform, quicker-cooking thickness. Also, I doubled the amount of chicken broth to 2/3 cups and omitted the wine completely. Finally, I added a little more of the flour mixture than called for, which meant that I needed to thin the sauce with broth, but ultimately yielded a larger amount of the sauce. I loved this sauce, so I was glad to have more!