Dijon Chicken with Mushrooms

Full of flavor from crispy bacon, garlic, onions, tangy Dijon mustard and lots of wine, this Dijon Chicken with Mushrooms will wow your tastebuds.

 

Whenever we head to the grocery store, I always check out the “discount” section with yellow labels because 1. I love a bargain and 2. I have freezer space to hoard the goods if we aren’t going to eat them right away. 

Last week however, my yellow label item was a big container of beautiful Swiss brown mushrooms. They looked absolutely perfect so I knew I’d have time to use them before they turned on me. 

I started the recipe search on my own computer because I regularly save recipes that I never get around to making. This one popped up, saved from way back in 2012, which probably never got made because tarragon was hard to come by in both Egypt and then Dubai, where I was living that year. 

Here in Jersey, I’ve got a tarragon plant on my kitchen windowsill!

Dijon Chicken with Mushrooms

If getting tarragon is an issue for you, wherever you live, you can use dried (just use half the amount) or substitute your favorite fresh herb. My preferred brand of Dijon mustard is Maille. This recipe is adapted from one in delicious. magazine, October 2012 issue.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 675g chicken breasts

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 slices bacon

Olive oil

7 oz or 200g mushrooms

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 onion, sliced

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped, plus extra to garnish

2 cups or 480ml white wine

1 tablespoon brandy

1/4 cup or 60ml double cream

For serving:

Cooked pasta or rice

Method

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks and season them with the salt and pepper. 

Peel and slice the onion thinly. Peel and crush the garlic with the side of your knife. 

Cut the bacon into pieces and fry in a large pan till crispy. Set aside, leaving behind as much bacon fat as you can. 

Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan and sear the chicken until golden on all sides. 

Depending on the size of your pan, you might want to do this in batches so as not to crowd the pan. As the chicken browns, remove it to a plate.

While the chicken browns, trim and slice the mushrooms. 

Once the chicken is done and all on the plate, fry the mushrooms in the pan until golden. 

Add the garlic and onion then cook until soft. 

Stir in the mustard and tarragon. 

Add the white wine and brandy, then boil for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken and bacon back into the pan and simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes stirring now and then. 

Stir through the cream.

 Garnish with fresh tarragon and serve over pasta or rice. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with fresh vegetables. Technically, I suppose mushrooms are not vegetables since they belong to the fungi kingdom but we tend to use them as vegetables in cooking, so that’s my excuse. Many thanks to our host Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the recipes below. 

• Air Fryer Honey Roasted Parsnips from Palatable Pastime
• Dijon Chicken with Mushrooms from Food Lust People Love
• Insalata di Pomodori from Culinary Cam
• Mushroom & Green Peas Curry - East Indian Style from Sneha’s Recipe
• Roasted Tricolor Carrots with Coconut Orange Glaze from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Smoked Kielbasa and Vegetables Skewers from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tomato & Zucchini Galette from Amy’s Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Fresh Scallop Sashimi

More a method than a recipe, this fresh scallop sashimi is easy to make with a little cling film, time in a freezer and a sharp knife. 

Back in our Dubai days, before my husband retired, he traveled a lot. I wasn’t alone since our wonderful Boxer boy was still around but I did miss him. One perk though was that with all those miles in the air, he earned platinum status on Emirates Airline, which gave us access to the Emirates first class lounge. 

The first class lounge had a fabulous menu of delicious items we loved, like the wild mushroom soup. I ordered that every time, that is, until they added a sushi bar. Manned by Japanese sushi chefs, items were made to order from the freshest of ingredients, flown in from Japan. It was heaven. 

Our favorite thing was fresh scallop sashimi, something we had never tried before in a regular Japanese restaurant, and we were hooked. 

Now, whenever we are able to buy hand-dived scallops, I always make at least one batch into sashimi. 

Fresh Scallop Sashimi

You can make this with as few or as many fresh scallops as you can get your hands on. You will also need a good freezer and cling film. You can fry up the roe with butter and a little garlic and salt or use them in another recipe, like my celeriac mash with scallop roe butter. 

Ingredients

Hand-dived scallops

Cling film

Freezer space

Time

To serve: wasabi and soy sauce 

Method

Remove the roe from the scallops and trim off the “foot” which is the little tough bit that holds the scallop to its shell and discard.

Stretch a piece of cling film out on a clean work surface and line the scallops up side by side on their long side. 

Roll the cling film up as snugly as possible to push the scallops into a cylindrical shape. 

Chill in the freezer until just about frozen. (You can also leave them in for a couple of days, just remove and leave to thaw slightly before continuing.)

Remove from the freezer and use your hands to roll and press the scallops to make them even more cylindrical. Imagine you are making a long sausage out of dough. 

Slice one at a time with sharp knife into thick circles. 

Place single file on a serving plate. Leave to thaw completely then serve with a dollop of wasabi paste mixed in to soy sauce for dipping. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 19th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter S. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the S recipes below:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Focaccia 
• A Messy Kitchen: Marionberry Lavender Chiffon Cake 
• Blogghetti: Spinach and Cheese Crescent Rolls 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Spicy Peas 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Semitas 
• Food Lust People Love: Fresh Scallop Sashimi 
• Culinary Cam: Semifreddo al Miele 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Weeknight Sweet Italian Sausage Gravy with Beer 
• Magical Ingredients: Shahi Paneer Dip
• Palatable Pastime: Seasoned Baked Chicken Legs
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Chermoula Sweet Potato Salad

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

G. Extra Herby Gremolata 

H. Smoked Herring Spread 

I.  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream 

J. Small Batch Strawberry Jam 

K. Kiwi Tomato Feta Salad 

L. Lobster Butter 

M. Milk-Roasted Chicken 

N. Nocciolata Swirl Meringues 

O. Jersey Octopus Ceviche 

P. Easy Pastina Soup 

Q. Shrimp and Quail Egg Garden Salad 

R. Celeriac Mash with Scallop Roe Butter 

S. Fresh Scallop Sashimi – this post! 

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Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia #BreadBakers

A little bit sweet and a whole lot savory, this Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia makes a great brunch, lunch or snack with drinks. 

A while back we had a friend visiting for a few days and I knew we’d be out and about showing her the sights of this beautiful island. I wanted to prepare something that could be made ahead then baked when we got home. 

This sourdough focaccia is perfect for that. It can have its last rise in the refrigerator and is very forgiving if you leave it a little longer before baking. 

Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia

Start at least one day ahead of when you want to bake this to allow for overnight proofing. This recipe was inspired by one on the Good Food website. I’ve since made this three times and it never fails to please!

Ingredients

For the base: 

1 cup or 240ml water

1 oz or 28g bubbly active starter

2 2/3 cups or 332g strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the topping:

2 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 purple onion

2 garlic cloves

4-5 fresh figs,

3 1/2 oz or 100g serrano ham slices

2 1/2 oz or 70g feta

flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

freshly ground black pepper

Method

In your mixing bowl, mix the starter with the water. Stir the starter and water loosely together just to lift the starter off the bottom of the bowl.

Next, add the 332g of strong white bread flour to the bowl, and the 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Mix it all together loosely, so that it’s pretty ragged but all the flour and water is mixed; I use a Danish whisk for this first rough mix but you can use your hands, if you prefer. I follow this up using a bowl scraper to clean round the bowl and make sure it is all nicely roughly mixed together.

Cover the bowl with a shower cap or cling film, and leave it for an hour or so on the kitchen counter. 

After an hour, remove the cover, and start to lift and fold the dough to build up the structure in the dough, wake up the gluten, and bring it into a smooth ball of dough. Literally pick up a small handful of dough from one side of the bowl, lift it and fold it over the rest of the dough to the other side of the bowl. Then turn the bowl and repeat the process, do it about 20-25 times maximum, until it is a smooth ball.

Please note: you will only need to perform this many pulls and folds on this first occasion; after this, far fewer pulls and folds will be required to pull the dough into a ball before covering and leaving it again. You do NOT need to perform 20-25 each time. At this point the dough will be at its stickiest, from this point it will become less sticky with each handling.

Cover the bowl again with your same cover, and leave it out on the kitchen counter.

Over the next few hours, perform sets of the pulls and folds/lifting and folding actions 2 to 4 more times; these do not need to be done at fixed time periods apart, as long as you fit in sufficient sets during that time, that’s the key. Aim for 4 sets in total. The dough will not be starting to grow at this stage.

Each time you perform these pulls and folds, stop when the dough comes into a ball, that is the dough telling you it has had enough handling at that stage.

Complete the final set, pulling the dough into a nice firm ball, then re-cover the bowl, and leave it on the counter overnight. This is often called the “bulk fermentation” period.

The ideal temperature for this is between 64°F- 68°F or 18°C – 20°C for 8-10 hours. If it is a lot colder than this, it will take longer, just give it a few more hours. 

The next morning, the dough should have really grown within the bowl, to at least double, with a smoothish, slightly domed surface. There should be a nice structure to the dough, it does not need to be bubbly, just grown. 

Prepare a large baking tray by lining it with parchment. 

Using a bowl scraper or your hands, gently ease the bubbly risen dough from the bowl and let it fall onto the parchment. Gently stretch it out. 

Pour over about half of the olive oil. Cover loosely and leave it on the counter to prove again for 1 1/2 – 2 hours. If you won’t be home to bake then, you can pop the dough in the refrigerator for a longer rise time. 

When you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. 

Slice the onion as thinly as possible. Remove the stems and quarter the figs. Crumble the feta and mince the garlic. Pick the thyme leaves off the stems. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Tear the ham into bits. 

Use your finger tips to firmly press dimples all over the dough. Toss the thyme leaves, onion, garlic, figs, ham and feta with one tablespoon olive oil, then scatter these over the top. 

Use your fingers to press the toppings into the bread a little, and spread the bread to fill any gaps. 

Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 20 minutes more until it has puffed up.

Drizzle over the remaining oil, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, and bake for 30 mins until risen, golden and crisp on top. 

Leave to cool in the pan for 15 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cut into rectangles to serve. Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month which means it’s the day my fellow Bread Bakers and I share our recipes, this time for sourdough bread. Many thanks to our host Radha of Magical Ingredientst.

• Food Lust People Love: Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia
• Sneha's Recipe: Quick Sourdough Discard Burger Buns
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Sourdough Seeded Bread with Tangzhong
• A Messy Kitchen : Hot Honey Sourdough 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sourdough Multi-Grain Bread
• Zesty South Indian Kitchen: Sourdough Jewish Rye Bread

 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Pepperoni Jalapeño Pizza Quesadillas

Pepperoni Jalapeño Pizza Quesadillas make a great packable school lunch, full of flavor and easy to eat. No utensils needed! 

If you are packing lunches for multiple people, quesadillas are super flexible. Just a couple of triangles might do as the main for younger children while older students or grownups might eat a whole quesadilla. Or more! 

Our jalapeños aren’t really spicy hot but they do add a little crunch and flavor. You can leave them out if you or your lunch eaters can’t do spicy at all. 

Pepperoni Jalapeño Pizza Quesadillas

As you might have read here before, my preferred tortilla is one I can buy at my local grocery store. They are called mitad y mitad because they're made from a combination of corn and wheat flour. Use your favorite fresh tortillas. 

Ingredients to make four quesadillas

8 tortillas

3 1/2 oz or 100g grated mozzarella

1/2 cup or 128g pizza sauce, homemade or store-bought

24-28 pepperoni slices

2 whole pickled jalapeños, sliced

Method

Use one tortilla to estimate how many slices of pepperoni you will need. My tortillas are about 5-6 inches or 12.7 – 15.3cm so seven pepperoni slices each looks about right. You don’t want to overcrowd the quesadilla.

Start by warming the tortillas in a nonstick frying pan. Set them aside.

Put one tortilla back in the pan then top with 1/8 of the pizza sauce and the pepperoni and jalapeño slices. 

Sprinkle on 1/4 of the grated mozzarella. 

Spread 1/8 of the pizza sauce on another tortilla and carefully set it, sauce side down, on the one with topping in the pan. 

Cook until the bottom tortilla is toasted and then carefully turn the quesadilla over to toast the other side. 

When both sides are toasted, remove the quesadilla to a cutting board and leave to cool briefly before cutting into triangles. 

Repeat the process until you've made four quesadillas, cut into triangles. 

Pack into lunch box containers. I love the flat ones I use also for salami and ham because, unlike the deeper containers, they don’t take up much room in a lunchbox or picnic basket. You can also wrap these in foil.

These pepperoni jalapeño pizza quesadillas can be reheated by a quick zap in a microwave, if one is available, but they are just as tasty chilled or at room temperature. 

Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing favorite lunch box recipes, easy to pack, great to eat. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below. 

• Antipasto Skewers from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Allergy Friendly Granola from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Hawaiian Plate Lunch Macaroni Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Peanut Butter Chip Brownies from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pepperoni Jalapeño Pizza Quesadillas from Food Lust People Love
• Sabudana Vada from Sneha's Recipe
• Vegetable Poha from Mayuri's Jikoni

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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