Braised Chicken Thighs With Morels And Ramps In A White Wine Cream Sauce
I was excited and a bit nervous when it came to using my $16 box of morel mushrooms, and $6 bunch of ramps on Sunday. At $21 for just the vegetables, I wanted to make those ingredients shine in a dish for dinner. I consulted a few of my cookbooks and riffed on a braised chicken dish from Molly Steven’s “All About Braising”, and while my chicken dish was cooking, I made a batch of ramp crepes to use with the leftover braise.
I found that my small container of 8 or so morels was more than adequate to add an earthy flavor to the braised chicken, while the ramps were mild and somewhat sweet in both the braise and the crepes. I think both dishes would work for entertaining guests, and the chicken filled crepes would make for a terrific brunch item-especially since everything can be made ahead of time.
For the ramp crepe recipe, head over to DC Foodies to check it out!
Braised Chicken Thighs with Morels and Ramps in a White Wine Cream Sauce
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs with bone and skin
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8-10 morel mushrooms
- bunch ramps, about a dozen, trimmed at each end and rough chopped
- 1 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 cup half and half or light cream
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Flour for dredging
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Heat a large dutch oven over high heat.
Generously salt and pepper chicken thighs on both sides. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.
Add olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter to heated dutch oven. When the oil begins to shimmer, add chicken to the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan. Allow chicken to brown for 4-5 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to a platter.
Reduce heat to medium and add 1 tablespoon butter to the dutch oven. Add morels and ramps. Sautee for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and continue to sautee for an additional minute. Transfer vegetables to the chicken platter.
Increase heat to high and deglaze with white wine. Reduce to a strong simmer and allow wine to reduce by a third. Add chicke stock, thyme and marjoram. Return chicken and vegetables to braising vessel.
Place dutch oven in lower third of the oven. Braise for 90 minutes.
Remove chicken from the dutch oven, skim fat as needed with a large spoon, and add cream. Serve chicken with sauce over top.
I suggest serving this dish over egg noodles or parsley potatoes.
This recipe is submitted for Weekend Herb Blogging, a weekly blog event started by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and is being hosted this week by Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook.
I just drooled on myself. That looks so good!
Can’t go wrong with morels!!!! I PLANTED a patch for myself last year on a friends farm in the woods!
Wow, I’d love to know how to plant them-I have woods behind my home. I’d take some for me and make a fortune selling the rest!!
Barbara-Thanks so much! It really tastes good with those morels.
You need:
Morels (bunches of ‘em)
Butter/Margarine (3-4 tbsp’s)
Frying Pan (non-stick is good…iron skillet is better)
Flour (1/2 cup or so)
Salt/Pepper to taste.
Directions:
Melt butter/margarin in frying pan (don’t overheat it!!!!!)
Coat Morels in flour (either in gallon ziplock bag that has flour in
it or using a plate covered in flour)–coat the cleaned morels well with
flour.
Sautee mushrooms (gently) in butter/margarine.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Eat.
I have introduced a dozen people to the mighty morel with this tried and true recipe — which lets the mushroom be king of the plate. All of them have become converts and a few reported a nearly religious experience! Serve the mushrooms with homemade bread (warm) with butter and you have a meal betterthan any that has ever been served to royalty.
There is no better use of a morel then when it is covered in flour and sauteed in butter and eaten. I wouldn’t have them any other way!!!!
Courtesy of Jim from Imperial
Thanks Shay-sounds so simple and delicious!
Worth every cent you paid for the produce. Sounds glorious, Ramona. Thank you for sharing it with WHB!
I love learning new things…I had no clue what a ramp was!
A box of mushrooms. What a nice use with braised chicken
What a fabulous meal. I love morels, but haven’t tried ramps. I’ve never even seen them here.
I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 94′ and would come across fresh morels and ramps. I’d put them in my Ramon noodles, I miss them soooo much. Great job on this wonderful dish! Cheers, Aaron
Thanks, Aaron! I hope to get some more morels and ramps this weekend at the farmers markets. I need to enjoy them one more time before the season end!
[...] Crackers from have cake, will travel!, Bacon and Fig Clafoutis and Pot Pies from Home Gourmets, Braised Chicken Thighs with Morels and Ramps in a White Wine Cream Sauce from The Houndstooth Gourmet, Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini with Mint from Ladle & Whisk, [...]
It would be nice to know what sort of substitutions might work for this….green onions or leeks instead of ramps…. (If you only knew where I live… we don’t even have parking ramps here.)
Also, lots of average grocery stores do not have varying types of mushrooms…good substitutes?
Just finished making this (with substitutions) and it is really very delicious. The mushroom cream sauce is the star, so I made a few changes.
First off, I used leeks (no ramps in town)…I chopped two very big leeks. Secondly, I used dried porcini and chanterelli mushrooms which are both recommended as a substitute for morel. I decided to go with more mushrooms here to make the sauce more substantial. I reconstituted the mushrooms with boiling water and once the mushrooms were soft, I drained them, keeping the mushroomy water for later to mix with the chicken stock.
Once the Chicken braised, I made the sauce with heavy cream and a bit of creme fraiche. I like my sauces a bit more on the thick side, so I also added a small amount of cornstarch mixed with a little water.
The result is absolutely delicious! Don’t be afraid to make this if you can’t find ramps and sorels.