This recipe is something I thought up at the spur of the moment. I had a fryer chicken on hand and figured I needed to do something innovative with it. So why not split the sucker in half and sauté it with mushrooms? (which I also had on hand). The result wasn’t that bad. With rice, or a grain like couscous or quinoa, it makes for a perfect dish. You can even serve it over pasta. If you like the chicken as is, a good crusty loaf of bread would be ideal.

Note that the recipe calls for ¼ cup white wine of your choice. I normally prefer dry white wine. But, if you like something sweeter you can use a rosé, or Rhine wine or, if you have it around and want to splurge, sauterne wine or madeira.

Also, this dish (one chicken) yields 2 servings. In desired, you can double the recipe (with 2 whole chickens) and serve 4.

SAUTÉED SPLIT CHICKEN WITH MUSHROOOMS

Ingredients:

1 whole fryer chicken
½ cup butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
¼ pound mushrooms, washed and slice thinly
1 Tablespoon fresh, chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup white wine of your choice (see above)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Instructions:

  1. Rinse chicken under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Split into halves.
  2. Melt butter in a large skillet or frying pan. Add onion and garlic and and sauté over medium heat about 2 minutes.
  3. Add chicken halves, salt, pepper and oregano, and cook, turning, until chicken is browned. If needed, you can add more butter while browning.
  4.  Stir in mushrooms.  Add wine, stir to mix ingredients, cover, lower heat to simmer 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
    Yield: 2 servings.