Chicken Breast with Mushrooms and Cream - Stroganoff

👨‍🍳 Method

To assemble

1. 1
   Heat the oil in a wide pot over high heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 2
   Add the chicken breast strips and fry 3–4 minutes per side, until browned. Transfer to a plate.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Fry the strips briefly, over high heat and in a single layer: they brown outside and stay tender, and finish cooking in the sauce.

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 3
   Heat the butter in the wide pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveWide, shallow pot
4. 4
   Add the onion and fry 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
5. 5
   Add the garlic and fry 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
6. 6
   Add the mushrooms and fry 6–8 minutes, stirring, until the mushrooms release their liquid and it evaporates.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
7. 7
   Add the paprika and smoked paprika and stir.
8. 8
   Return the chicken to the pot, add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream. Turn down the heat and simmer 8 minutes, until the sauce thickens.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveWide, shallow pot

   💡The cream thickens at a gentle simmer: a hard, long boil can split it, and the meat toughens.

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
9. 9
   Season with salt and black pepper, scatter the parsley on top and serve with pasta.