As a working gal who happens to love to cook I am always looking for recipes that are delicious and fairly easy.  Mind you, the recipe I’ve listed below isn’t the “open a can, throw in a piece of meat” type of recipe but it is really, really good and worth the few extra steps that it takes to prepare—mostly under 30 minutes!  The recipe is from a new cookbook I received, “The Best Simple Recipes” by America’s Test Kitchen.

Recipe: Chicken with Pesto-Mushroom Cream Sauce

Summary: Relatively Simple

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • Salt & pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 10 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 cup heavy cream (I used 3/4 cup and made up the difference in the broth)
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth (I used 3/4 cup, see above note)
  • 1/2 cup basil pesto (store bought)
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil. Add remaining oil to skillet and cook mushrooms until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add cream, broth and chicken to skillet, scraping any browned bits from skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer chicken to serving platter and tent with foil. Return skillet to medium-high heat and simmer until sauce is thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Off heat, stir in pesto and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

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I served this with French green beans and white and wild rice and it was very yummy!  Enjoy!