Chicken in White Wine and Cream Sauce

When I lived in England, one of my favorite meals was white rice with white wine and cream sauce.  Healthy, right?  No chicken (too expensive), just rice and sauce.  And butter.  The sauce I would use came in a little blue (I think.  Or maybe it was green.) can, and I would pour the sauce into a Pyrex dish, bake it for half an hour or so (until it got really thick and gooey) and pour it over rice.  And there was dinner.

Since coming back to the States 13 years ago, I have tried many a version of white wine and cream sauce, attempting to find something remotely close to the yummy stuff I used to buy at Tesco.  I've never come even close to finding it.

And I still haven't.

Don't get me wrong; this wasn't terrible.  It was, however, bland.  That could have had something to do with the fact, though, that the recipe called for tarragon.  I don't have tarragon, I don't use tarragon, and I wasn't going to buy it just for the sake of one recipe.  So, yeah, the blandness may have been my fault.  Or maybe it would have been bland regardless.

I will be making this again, once I figure out a way to liven it up a bit.  But here's the basics...

You will need:

• Skinless, boneless chicken breasts.  I cut mine up into chunks as usual, but you can leave yours whole if you want.  
• Onion, chopped.
• Mushrooms, sliced.
• 1 pint of whipping cream
• White cooking wine.
• Butter - the recipe called for 6 tablespoons.  That's a lot of butter, especially with the cream.
• Flour
• Salt and pepper
• Tarragon (as per the recipe.  I did not use it.)

Ready, set.... cook!

1.  Melt your butter in a heavy skillet.

2.  Coat your chicken pieces in flour seasoned with salt and pepper (and tarragon if you choose).

3.  Brown your chicken in the butter.

4.  Add your chopped onion and sliced mushrooms to the pan.  Pour in some white cooking wine.  Don't be stingy, now.

5.  Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.

6.  Add the pint of cream.  Stir in some flour (in small increments) to help thicken the sauce.  Stir frequently to avoid lumps.  Be careful not to add too much, as the sauce will thicken as it cooks and stands.  I panicked and stirred in some corn starch as well.  Yeah, it got pretty thick.

7.  Cook over medium heat until sauce is as thick as you would like it.  Serve over noodles or rice.

I hoep you all enjoy this!  Please, if you try it, let me know what you think should be done to jazz it up a bit (Adam suggested leaving out the onion and mushrooms and adding peas.  Yeah, I married a strange one.)