# chicken, Italian sausage and rosemary



## stymie72 (Jul 22, 2009)

Hoping someone might have a recipe for a dish I had one Christmas.   It was almost like a stew: boneless chicken breast, Italian sausage in a creamy sauce (color of mushroom soup) with a significant rosemary flavor.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

It wouldn't be a stew because we don't use boneless chicken breast in stews.  It was probably made in a pan and didn't take long at all.  I can't say for sure what you had but I can try to make a recipe that would fit that description.  Tell me if I'm close.

- boneless chicken breast

- italian sausage cut up how you like

- half an onion, finely chopped

- 1 clove garlic

- sprig of rosemary

- fresh or dried thyme

- olive oil

- parmesan cheese

- heavy cream

- 1 tsp flour

- dry vermouth or chicken stock

1. Pat the chicken breasts dry - very important for a good sear.  Season each side with salt and pepper.

2. In a heavy skillet add a little bit of olive oil until it gets very hot and then put in the chicken, very high heat.

3. Let the chicken brown on either side about 2 minutes.  Set the chicken aside on a plate, it's not cooked through yet but you'll cook it off later.

4. In the same pan cook the sausage until it gets browned.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

5. In the same pan sautee the onion, garlic, chopped rosemary, and thyme in some olive oil until soft and translucent.  Put the sausage back in and throw in a couple of shot glasses of vermouth or chicken stock and deglaze the pan.  Really scrape the bottom of it and let the liquid reduce by half. 

6. Put the chicken in again and cover.  Let it cook for 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, then remove the chicken again. 

7. Add a tsp or tbsp of flour, the more you add the thicker the sauce will get but you won't need much.  Stir it in and let it cook for a minute.

8. Now add enough cream until desired color and creaminess and turn off the heat once it reaches a simmer.  This is your sauce.  Grate and stir in parmesan cheese then check for seasoning.  Pour over the chicken breasts and serve.


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## stymie72 (Jul 22, 2009)

sounds like it could be very close.   might add some mushrooms.   thanks for your help.   Will report back after I try it.


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## jermaine jones (May 31, 2011)

This sounds very good.. I will have to try this as well sometime this weekend.



Koukouvagia said:


> It wouldn't be a stew because we don't use boneless chicken breast in stews. It was probably made in a pan and didn't take long at all. I can't say for sure what you had but I can try to make a recipe that would fit that description. Tell me if I'm close.
> 
> - boneless chicken breast
> 
> ...


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

It sounds like it might be good, I wanted to suggest mushrooms as well but since you didn't mention them in your initial description I didn't bother.  Honestly, I've never made this dish before but how bad can it be if it has sausage in it?


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## stymie72 (Jul 22, 2009)

finally made the dish and I was very happy with how it turned out.  Some comments if anyone is interested.   Chicken ended up being a little dry, will cook it less next time.   I used leftover hot Italian sausage so I lost out on the brownings, still the sauce was very flavorful.  Didn't fine cut the onion, about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch slice but cooked them to a nice, deep brown.  2 chix breast, 2 links, 8 oz cream, 12 oz chix stock.   Didn't have fresh so used dried rosemary and a bit of dried thyme.   Put the rosemary in some stock and heated it, and then strained out the herb, I was unsure about the rosemary but this worked fine.   Any tips for using rosemary will be appreciated.   Did the mushroom slices to a nice deep brown, using just a touch of butter.   Saw a recipe on tv for porcini gnocchi.   Next time I'll try my first stab at gnocchi, should be great with this sauce.   Struggled with a side dish for the meal and ended up cheating with a home made rice a roni type dish.   It worked fine.   Any suggestions for other sides I might consider?   Could've used more sauce, will definitely need it if I want any for gnocchi.   I have a growing appreciation for a tasty sauce that magically comes together.   Looking forward to serving this for company.  Thanks so much Koukouvagia!


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Glad my suggestions helped.  If you're worried about the chicken breasts drying out as they often tend to do you can try using boneless skinless thighs.  It doesn't take much longer to cook them but you can cook them for a while in the sauce without fear of drying out.  Don't be afraid of rosemary, you can chop it up and throw it in there or you can do what you did which was very creative.  I prefer your way because I like the flavor of rosemary but don't like to bite into it.  Otherwise you can put a whole sprig of rosemary in to cook with the onions and then remove it intact.  A little rosemary goes a long way.

Paring the sauce with gnocchi sounds like a good idea, you are inspired.  Another way to spruce up this sauce a little is to add a few spoonfuls of left over tomato sauce, or a teaspoon of tomato paste to the onions, makes a nice pink sauce once you add the cream.  It also gives it a big of sweetness to mellow out the earthiness of the mushroom/rosemaryness.  I have yet to attempt gnocchi myself, sounds like an endeavor.  Come back and let us know how it goes.


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