Today’s recipe is an absolute winner, this Pan-fried chicken with creamy mash potatoes, mushroom sauce and a side of green beans is the perfect weekend or weeknight meal. This also happens to be the third and final recipe in the dinner dilemma’s series but a much anticipated one if you also follow me over on my social media! So lets get into it…
Mashed Potatoes
The mashed potatoes are absolutely the star of the dish and my recipe yields the most pillowy and silky smooth mashed potatoes you’ve ever eaten. Be sure to get your hands on a Potato ricer, this is a non-negotiable and I promise one of these will level up your mashed potatoes to the point you’ll never look at a masher again!
- Wash your potatoes throughly to remove any dirt. Do not peel your potatoes as the skin prevents the potatoes from absorbing any water, prevent soggy gluey mash!
- Add them to a pot of salted cold water. Do not use boiled water from the kettle as the potato’s will cook unevenly. Instead allow the cold water to come up in temperature on the hob gradually.
- Turn the heat to a medium-high, once the water come up to the boil, turn the heat down to a medium low and allow the potatoes to cook until tender which takes about 15-25 minutes
- Drain the potatoes and add them 1-2 at a time into your ricer, the skins come right off in the ricing process so don’t worry about them!
- Stir in your butter and milk mixture a little at time and mix the mash with a spatula. You might not need all the liquid, depending on how you like the consistency of your mash. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper!
The Chicken
Marinate the chicken with the following fresh herbs and spices, obviously the longer you can marinate the chicken, the better the final result will be, I tend to aim for 2 hours:
- dried parsley
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- paprika and onion powder seasoning (I like this particular one but you could totally use paprika and onion powder)
- fresh garlic
- red chilli
- coriander
Tips for making Pan-fried Chicken with Creamy Mash
- In general when I’m cooking with chicken I like to butterfly or pound the chicken. This ensures that it is of the same thickness and therefore cooks evenly. On this occasion I butterflied the chicken by cutting through the middle of the chicken whilst keeping my hand firmly flat on top of the chicken. Alternatively place your chicken breast between two pieces of clingfilm and using a rolling pin, pummel the chicken until it is of even thickness.
- If you’re unsure as to whether the chicken is cooked through properly then I suggest getting your hands on a cooking thermometer. The internal temperature of cooked chicken is 75º or 165ºF. I use the Salter Instant read thermometer.
The Mushroom sauce
For the mushroom sauce you want to use ideally homemade stock. If you don’t have any then just pick up a trusty stock cube. I like to make homemade chicken stock in advance and then freeze it. Simply pick up a pound of chicken wings and pop them on the stove with some hot water and fresh herbs, once cooked drain the wings and freeze in an ice cube tray. Just make sure you don’t accidentally pop them into your morning iced coffee!
The ingredients you’ll need are:
- butter
- fresh garlic
- mushrooms
- parsely
- double cream
- vegetable or chicken stock
- paprika
- salt and pepper
- optional: parmesan cheese
If you like the look of this my chicken and mash then you should definitely check out recipes 1 and 2 of the Dinner Dilemma’s series:
Pan-fried Chicken with Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom sauce and Green Beans
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
- ½ kg potatoes
- 70 ml milk
- 3 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper to taste
Chicken
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika and onion powder seasoning
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 red chilli
- handful coriander
Mushroom Sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 punnet mushrooms
- handful parsely
- 250 ml double cream
- 50 ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 tsp paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
- optional: handful of parmesan cheese
Green Beans side
- 1 packet green beans
- drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Begin by prepping the veg, this recipe calls for 8 garlic cloves so we're going to finely chop those, the chilli, coriander, parsley and mushrooms. Then set aside.
- To the chicken add the dry spices: dried parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper and paprika and onion seasoning. As well as some of the garlic, all of the coriander and red chilli we just prepped. Massage well into the chicken. Set that aside to marinate, if you're marinating the chicken the night before then even better!
- Wash your potatoes throughly to remove any dirt, do not peel your potatoes as the skin prevents the potatoes from absorbing any water, prevent soggy gluey mash!
- Add them to a pot of salted cold water, do not use boiled water from the kettle as the potato’s will cook unevenly, you want to instead allow the cold water to come up in temperature on the hob gradually
- Turn the heat to a medium-high, once the water come up to the boil, turn the heat down to a medium low and allow the potatoes to cook until tender which takes about 15-25 minutes.
- Whilst the potatoes are boiling we'll move onto cooking the chicken: pan-fry your chicken for about 6-7 minutes on each side on a medium-low heat.
- Next drain the potatoes and allow them to sit in a colander to allow any excess moisture to evaporate for 5 minutes.
- Check on your chicken and once cooked, remove from the pan. In the same pan that we used for the chicken, add the butter for the mushroom sauce and the remaining garlic, parsley and mushrooms. Stir well and sauté on a medium heat until golden brown.
- Going back to the potatoes, add the drained potatoes 1-2 at a time into your ricer, the skins come right off in the ricing process so don't worry about them! Make sure you rice the potatoes into a large bowl.
- Going back to the mushroom sauce, add in the stock, cream, paprika, salt, pepper and parmesan. Stir well and turn down to the lowest setting on your hob to keep the sauce warm.
- Going back to the mashed potatoes: in a microwave safe jug, add your butter and milk and heat until hot, about 1½ to 2 minutes.Stir in your hot butter and milk mixture a little at time and mix the mash with a spatula. You might not need all the liquid, depending on how you like the consistency of your mash. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper!
- For the green beans you can par cook them however you like.I like to blanch mine in boiling water for 3-4 minutes then put into ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Once all the other components of the dish are ready I'll finish them in the pan with a squeeze of lemon, finely chopped garlic and a drizzle of oil. Alternatively, instead of blanching them hot water you can steam them in the microwave using a steamer!
