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.
Philadelphia has a rather large Polish population in the neighborhood of Port Richmond, were my mother grew up. Polish grocery stores carry Polish products of all sorts. These mushrooms caught my eye and made me reminisce about that earthy soup, usually served on holidays. My mother’s version adds potato dumplings and prunes. Tonight, I garnished mine with sherry and a dollop of sour cream.
