First of all, many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review of THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE. It really means a lot to me that you did that and I thank you. Reviews really help authors to get the word out about their books. Here is one I just got from Fresh Fiction! Thanks, Annette.

Those of you who have read THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE know that there are a number of Russian foods mentioned in the story. In one scene, Prince Alexander decides to show Kathleen just how wrong she has him by making her a Russian-style meal. Prince Alexander serves up chicken with sour cream and butter with a side of a pilaf chock full of an eclectic mix of ingredients as he tries to work his way into Kathleen’s heart.

This morning I’m sharing with you the recipe for Prince Alexander’s Chicken in Sour Cream. This is a really easy recipe that can be adapted in a number of ways. For example, if you’re not a mushroom fan, just leave them out. You can also add some paprika (about 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika) to the sour cream to make Chicken Paprikash. It’s that simple.

Hope you enjoy today’s recipe from THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE.

Chicken in Sour Cream

Ingredients

2 skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
1/2 cup onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the butter and oil in a saute pan. Pat dry your sliced chicken breasts and brown them in the butter/oil. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until just getting brown. Mushrooms have a lot of water so you always want to cook them by themselves and you want to steam away all that water before adding the other ingredients, otherwise you’ll just be steaming the food.

Add the onions to the mushrooms and cook until the onions are soft and beginning to get golden.

Turn down the heat, add the sour cream to the pan and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. You can use low-fat sour cream to cut down on the calories. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up all those brown bits. Those are the sugars from the food that have caramelized on the pan and have all the tasty goodness! The acid from the sour cream will also help to deglaze the pan. If you wish, you could also put a touch of white wine to deglaze the brown bits and add a little more flavor to the sauce. A small amount of chicken broth will likewise work.

Once the sour cream is warm, add the chicken breast back to the pan and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. I asked you to thinly slice the breasts to make sure they would cook thoroughly. If you’re using a thicker breast, check for doneness before serving.

You can serve the above dish with white rice, pilaf (next week’s recipe), buttered noodles or even an un-Russian item like spaetzle.