Sauteed Chicken in Mustard-Cream Sauce

Have you ever looked forward to making a meal that didn't turn out as well as you thought it would? I have been wanting to make this chicken all week, and I was excited that I finally got the chance to last night. It pretty much started out bad from the beginning.

The chicken wasn't thawed out, that was the biggest problem I was having. I had placed the chicken in the fridge the night before. I thought that would be enough for them to completely thaw out, but obviously I was wrong. I worked on doing a quick thaw while working on making Pancetta Green Beans (more on those tomorrow). The chicken didn't that was quickly as I was hoping, and it was taking a long time to cook. It was supposed to take 20 minutes and I'm guessing it would have taken an hour total if I had continued down the same path. I got frustrated, and pretty hungry, and decided to cut the chicken up into tiny pieces.

The tiny pieces didn't make it a very appetizing looking dish, but the chicken did cook faster. I then made the mustard-cream sauce, which is pretty easy to make. Just add white wine, heavy cream, mustard and tarragon. My overall impression of this dish is "Bleh." It didn't have as much flavor as I was hoping. There just wasn't that pop of flavor I wanted. Normally I like mustard in dishes, but I didn't get as much of that as I wanted. To be fair to the dish, I was biased to dislike it before I even tasted it. It took so long to cook that by the time I got to tasting it, I couldn't really stand the site of the chicken. The dish does taste better the next day, the flavors have more to combine.

Sauteed Chicken in Mustard-Cream Sauce

from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

Serves: 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)

Coarse salt and fresh ground 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 dried tarragon (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh)

1. Sprinkle each chicken breast with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; saute until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate; keep warm.

2. Pour the wine into the hot skillet; cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Whisk in the cream, mustard, and tarragon. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

3. Pour any accumulated chicken juices into the sauce. Right before serving, drizzle the cream sauce over the sauteed chicken.