* Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff

I've just bought some lovely cuts of beef from the butchers, and I really quite fancied a beef goulash or stew or stroganoff... but amazingly enough I appear to have over organised myself in a bid to make my life easier, and have already bagged, tagged and frozen it all - and I can't think of anything tougher or more tasteless, than beef defrosted in the microwave... so I had to think again.

My mind went utterly and completely blank.

This happens ALOT - most commonly after my mum has phoned me to remind me about something REALLY important. At the end of the phone call there's a test. "Abbe, do you remember why I phoned you?"....

"... ummmmmmmm...???..."

Thankfully, I'm incredibly lovable and can therefore be forgiven for most things (insert cheesy grin).

Dinner... dinner... what was I gonna cook for dinner??? I mentally ran through the ingredients in the fridge... mushrooms, more mushrooms, crème fraîche... chicken. Chicken.... chickeeeeeeeennnnnn....  chick chick chick chick chicken (lay a little egg for meeee).... pie? Nah. Stew? Stew might be nice.... Naaaaah...  Stroganoff? Perfick.

It's scary in here.

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Serves 4

Prep time - 10 minutes (if that)

Cooking time - 35 - 40 minutes

You will need

A large frying pan/skillet

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion - sliced

2 cloves garlic - crushed

350g chicken breast - sliced into strips

125g chestnut mushrooms - sliced

125g closed cup mushrooms - sliced

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp Worcester sauce

2 tbsp brandy

300ml boiling chicken stock - from a cube is fine

100ml crème fraîche

salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp cornflour (optional)

1 tbsp fresh thyme (optional)

Method

In the frying pan heat the oil over a medium heat and gently fry the onions and garlic for 5 minutes or until beginning to soften. Add the chicken meat and cook until no pink is showing, about another 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, paprika, Worcester sauce and brandy and cook for about a minute - then add the hot chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer gently, uncovered for 20 minutes.

Add the crème fraîche and stir it through. Keep it on a gentle heat so as not to split/curdle the sauce - if the sauce is too thin for your liking at this stage, remove a couple of spoonfuls of the liquid  and add the teaspoon of cornflour to it. Mix to a paste and add back into the stroganoff - stir and heat until thickened. Season to taste with salt and a good grind of black pepper.

Serve over rice or pasta and garnished with fresh thyme.