Chicken Breasts Baked on a Bed of Wild Mushrooms

My casual reading often includes "old" cookbooks that I still like, but no longer use very often. One of these is The Silver Palate Cookbook.In a late-night perusal of this classic, I found this recipe for chicken and mushrooms. I just happened to have a bag of dried cepes in the pantry and there are always chicken breasts in the freezer. Voila! I'm a pretty severe critic of my own cooking, but this one passed every test I could apply. Richly flavored and most certainly company-worthy. I served this with crispy polenta cakes and a salad.

CHICKEN BREASTS BAKED ON A BED OF WILD MUSHROOMS

(serves 6)

1. 3/4 cup Chicken Stock
2. 1 ounce dried cepes, morels or trompettes des morts or a combination of all three, thoroughly rinsed under running water and drained
3. 1/2 pound fresh cultivated mushrooms
4. 4 tablespoons sweet butter
5. 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
6. Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
7. 1/3 cup medium Port wine
8. 1/3 cup heavy cream
9. 3 boneless chicken breasts, skinned and halved
10. chopped parsley

Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour it over the cepes in a small bowl and let stand for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, trim stems from the fresh mushrooms and save them for another use. Wipe mushroom caps with a damp paper towel and slice thin.

Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the shallots and saute gently for 5 minutes without browning.

Drain the cepes, reserving the liquid and chop them fine. Add cepes and sliced fresh mushrooms to the skillet, season with salt and pepper and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add reserved soaking liquid, the Port and heavy cream to the skillet with the mushroom and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Spoon mushroom mixture into a shallow baking dish. Arange chicken breast halves in a single layer on top of the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cover the baking dish tightly with a piece of foil.

Set the dish on the middle level of the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until chicken breasts are done. Sprinkle with chopped parsely and serve.