Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

I have been looking for a good recipe to use Quinoa, and I think I have found it!  I was excited about using Quinoa (pronounced "kee-noa") for the first time.  Quinoa is a gluten-free grain, high in essential amino acids and a complete protein source - making it an excellent choice for vegetarian's as well as health-conscious folks looking to make the best choices in their food selections.

My inspiration for this recipe was a Bon Appetit recipe, that I altered in a few ways.  I first reduced the amount of white wine, and replaced 1/2 of the quantity with chicken broth.  Also, shitake mushrooms are hard to come by, so I substituted white button mushrooms for them.  Finally, I added chicken breasts to pair with the risotto to make it a more complete "dinner".

Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Quinoa Risotto

Here's what I used:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp olive oil
S&P

1 cup dried, rinsed quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dry thyme
1 med onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic (1 clove)
6-8 button mushrooms, stemmed, sliced thin
6-8 oz package bella (crimini) mushrooms, stemmed, sliced thin
shredded parmesan (topping, optional)

Here's what I did:

First I added olive oil to a non-stick skillet and set to medium heat.  Meanwhile I rinsed, patted dry, and seasoned the chicken breasts with thyme, salt and pepper.  Once oil is heated, add chicken (should sear) for 3-4 minutes per side.  Once a light browning has been achieved, add the white wine and chicken broth, and let cook for another 6-8 minutes, flipping 1-2 times.

Meanwhile, set a medium pan to boil with water and salt for quinoa.  Add rinsed quinoa and cook for 13 minutes at a simmer, covered, or until all liquid is absorbed.  Remove from heat.

Once chicken is well-cooked, or has reached an internal temperature of 160, remove from heat and set aside.  Add olive oil to same pan with juices from chicken remaining.  Saute onions for 5 minutes, add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.  Add mushrooms and thyme, and saute until mushrooms are heated through.  At this point, add white wine and chicken broth, and let simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until liquid becomes slightly thicker. 

Add mushroom mixture to quinoa pan, and incorporate all ingredients.

Plate mushroom quinoa with chicken.  The original recipe suggests topping this with grated parmesan, however we did not really like that combination.  So I would suggest trying it out to see if you like it, otherwise omit.

Just a note...& Crispy Garlic-Thyme Chicken Breasts

Tuesday night my friend and hairdresser came over to do hair. My hair, my husband's hair, his cousin and her two kids hair, and my sister's hair. Dinner did not get cooked, but rather ordered. Pizza that was. It was yumm.

Wednesday night I went riding. Wheeeee!! Thus, another non-cooking night for me. Nick did make a yummy herbed chicken that he braised in butter and olive oil. MMmmmmm. I'll try to find the recipe.

Found it!

Crispy Garlic-Thyme Chicken Breasts (Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg, CA)

Here's what he used:

2 large chicken breasts (w/ bones & skin)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
2 cloves unpeeled garlic
4 sprigs thyme, picked
2 tsp butter

Here's what he did:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Season both sides of chicken w/ S&P, and let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, warm large saute pan over high heat, 2 minutes, then add canola oil. Place chicken in pan, skin side down, and shake pan to prevent sticking. The chicken should glide on tow of oil and should "crackle", continue to cook until skin is light brown.

Put entire pan into oven for 10 minutes, skin side of chicken still down. Flesh side of chicken should still be raw, don't worry.

Pull pan out, and back on burner on medium heat. Smash garlic cloves with palm of your hand and then add to pan. Add thyme as well. Add butter and carefully flip the chicken, use a spoon to baste top of chicken with frothy butter mixture. Continue to baste for 1 minute.

Remove chicken to a resting plate, and let sit 5 minutes.

We served this with leftover baked beans and cole slaw from the BBQ last weekend. My large chicken breast was still slightly raw, but it was a BIG breast. Nick put it back in the pan for another 5 minutes - I also think this happened because the original recipe calls for boneless, skin-on chicken, and we used bone-in skin-on chicken. I think the bones helped insulate the chicken from the heat, and therefore took longer to cook. This was yummy!!