When life hands you chanterelle mushrooms…

…You make chicken stroganoff!

Chris’s brother gave us some wild (not make-you-talk-to-the-wall wild, mind you) chanterelle mushrooms over the weekend and my very first thought was stroganoff! Chicken stroganoff! My decision to substitute chicken for the usual beef was based on a few factors: 1) Chicken is healthier than beef; 2) I already had some leftover chicken from a bird I had roasted the night before; and 3) I wanted to use something that wouldn’t overpower the ‘shrooms and I thought beef might do that. Now with that out of the way, let’s cook, shall we?

Ingredients:
– Mushrooms, chopped (I used a combination of a few chanterelles and a handful of criminis I already had that needed to be used)
– Yellow onion, diced (I used half a large onion)
– Garlic, minced (I used 4 smallish cloves)
– Thyme (Fresh or dried, whatevs)
– 1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
– Pasta (I had linguine on hand, and although stroganoff is typically made with egg noodles, any pasta is fine)
– A few cups of cooked chicken, chopped or shredded or however you like your chicken
[Not pictured: Olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, W sauce, one can of chicken stock (not pictured because I used some frozen chicken stock that I’d made; I’m assuming it was about a can’s worth), butter, flour, and Parmesan cheese]

[Pictured, but you don’t need: Bananas]

To Do:
– Saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 7-10 minutes or until they’ve softened

– Add the mushrooms, saute for a little longer; add thyme, salt, pepper, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
– Add the can of chicken stock and can of cream of mushroom soup, stir stir stir
– When the stock and cream soup have incorporated nicely (i.e.: the cream soup is no longer a gelatinous blob), add the chicken and a few dashes of W sauce
– The stroganoff will be soupy – too soupy. You can wait forever and just let the water cook out naturally OR, if you’re practically starving to death like me, you can mix a few tablespoons of melted butter with a few teaspoons of flour and add that to the stroganoff. It’ll thicken up lickedy-split that way. [While it thickens, cook up your pasta according to the directions on the box]

– When the pasta is done and drained, just top it with a mess of chicken stroganoff (and Parmesan cheese, why not?), then enjoy!

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Sort of unrelated (but not?), my latest post over at Style Lush is all about building the basic bar. No juices or flavored boozes necessary!