Savory Onion Chicken

This is a real tasty chicken recipe that won’t take a lot of time or money but your friends will think they just ate at an expensive restaurant.  Great mix of flavors, sauce that cries for bread to dip into it, and a very tender meat.  I matched it with a green been recipe (that I posted today also) and simple mashed potatoes.  The original recipes for the chicken and the beans came from www.TasteOfHome.com and I made a few changes.

While this recipe includes some beer don’t worry about it.  Personally I hate it when the beer dominates the food rather than act as a component, which it does here.  My personal belief is that if you want onion chicken you should be able to taste the onion, chicken, and assorted seasonings.  If you feel the same you will like this.  Besides, you can use a non-alcoholic or light beer or probably some chicken stock though I didn’t try those.  I used a bottle of Yuengling Lager but believe MGD would do as well.  Of course there is a good beer aroma while cooking but not as much in the finished meal.

You can also use a 3 to 4 pound broiler or fryer if you wish.  Just cut it up and remove the skin.

Ingredients:

·         1/4 cup       all-purpose flour, divided into two steps of 2 Tablespoons (give or take)

·         2 half          chicken breasts each cut in thirds

·         2 Tbl          olive oil

·         1 envelope  onion soup mix (I used Lipton)

·         1 bottle       (12 ounces) beer or nonalcoholic beer (12 oz)

Directions:

1.      Place 2 tablespoons flour in a large resealable plastic bag. Add the chicken, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat or put the flour on a dish and dredge the chicken.  You may need more flour.

2.      Add the oil to a skillet

3.      Brown the chicken in the skillet

4.      Take the chicken out of the skillet, put it on a plate, and keep it warm with a tent of aluminum foil or stick it in the microwave or oven that you are not using

5.      Add the soup mix and the remaining flour to the skillet to start the rue.  Stir everything up while loosening the browned bits from the pan.  I like to use a spatula for this to capture all the flavors.

6.      Gradually stir in the beer using the spatula, a whisk, or whatever you feel comfortable with.

7.      Bring everything to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thickened.

8.      Put the chicken back into the pan and bring everything to a boil.

9.      Cover the pan and reduce the heat to a low simmer.  Cook for about a half hour or until the chicken juices run clear which is normally how you tell if chicken is done, when the juices run clear.  This made the meat very tender.  You can turn the heat to a higher simmer and cook for 12 to 15 minutes if you are getting anxious or your side dishes are beginning to cool

Yields around 6 servings.