Chicken, Artichokes, & Mushrooms in Wine Sauce

Yet another recipe purloined (and slightly modified) from the Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book. Erin and I would get sued for infringement if it weren't for the fact that recipes cannot be copyrighted. Or so I remember from my copyright class that I took exactly 10 years ago. Not much has changed in the law since then, has it? Oh it has? Well, let's just hope I'm still right about the recipes.

ANYWAY, I broke the cardinal rule (or is it Murphy's Law?) that says you must NOT make a recipe you have never tried before when having company over, or else the recipe is sure to totally bomb. I had chef-block and couldn't think of a recipe to make for Katie and Sean last weekend, so I actually busted out the cook books to search for one. My husband says I'm a good cook who has TERRIBLE taste in recipes (thanks, butthead), but in this case I scored. This turned out really yummy, although I will caution you against buying chicken breasts that are too thick because they take waaaaaay longer to cook than the recipe instructs. Thank goodness for patient guests and husbands who will distract hungry children while you stress about how long the chicken is taking to cook.

Chicken, Artichokes, & Mushrooms in Wine Sauce

Start to finish: 30 minutes (unless you buy thick chicken, then it's more like 45 minutes)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dried sage, crushed*
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves**
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered (drained)***
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/3 cup dry white wine****
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese*****
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley (I considered this optional.)

1. In a shallow dish, stir together flour, sage, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, and pepper. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. Coat chicken with remaining flour mixture.

2. In a large skillet (I used an electric skillet), cook chicken in hot oil over medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes. or until no longer pink, turning once. Remove chicken from skillet; cover and keep warm. Drain off any excess oil in skillet.

3. In the same skillet, cook mushrooms and artichoke hearts in hot butter/margarine over medium heat for 3 minutes or until artichokes and mushrooms are tender.

4. In a small bowl stir together reserved flour mixture, wine, broth, and 1/8 teaspoon salt until smooth. Add wine mixture to skillet. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly, the cook for 1 minute more. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley.

--------------------------------------------------

* Does it come any other way than crushed?
** Was this my problem? Did I buy whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts? I must investigate next time I go back to the grocery store. I am a bit worried though, because last time I was there 90% of the poultry case was empty with absolutely no explanation. Was there a run on ground turkey? Did the Foster Farms chickens finally convince their brethren to escape? What is going on here in Franklin, TN?
*** The recipe calls for frozen artichoke hearts, which I was unable to find for some reason. Instead, I used canned, but I didn't write down how many ounces were in the can before I tossed it. The can I used probably had about 10 or 12 ounces of artichoke hearts in it, I think. When I'm investigating the Great Missing Poultry Episode of 2011, I will stop by the canned veggie aisle and confirm.
**** I used boxed wine that had been in our fridge for probably close to six months, but it tasted just fine! Honestly, the end result didn't have a very strong wine taste, so you could probably just substitute chicken broth for the wine and call it a day.
***** I know I'm getting a little ridiculous with the asterisks, but I just had to share that for some weird reason, my father's family refers to grated Parmesan cheese as "stinky foot cheese". I blame my Grandpa Chuck, who has a habit of calling things by weird names, overusing the word "incidentally", and adopting bizarre accents for no particular reason during otherwise normal conversation.