I’m sure we all know and have a love/hate relationship with (or at least I do) the most Southern of Southern cooks, Paula Deen, y’all. I do a spot-on impression of her where I turn up the country accent and say something along the lines of “Ok y’all, we’re gonna start with 3 sticks of butter…”. Anyway, it’s finals week and I was craving some good comfort food, and this incorporates many flavors I like (which I’m sure you know by now if you follow the blog). I’ll warn you now, this IS a typical butter-laden Paula Deen recipe, but I think you would be safe subbing extra-virgin olive oil for the butter when sauteeing your mushrooms. It just won’t be quite as delicious when you sop up the drippings with a hunk of bread

Chicken Georgia

Don’t worry, I only at one chicken breast half with a giant salad on the side!

This is a no muss, no fuss dish with simple ingredients. It is obviously not the healthiest thing but is super yummy. I deviate from the recipe a number of times, so pay attention! My suggestions all come from experience

Start by melting a huge amount of butter (4 T.) in a large pan. Add sliced mushrooms and shallots and season. Here, the recipe says to cook for 10 minutes, but I’ve found that to be a little long depending on my pan and heat, so just cook until everything is tender.

At this point, the recipe also says to add in your chicken to cook for 10 minutes on each side. If you do this, your mushrooms will be burnt by the time you’re done!! So remove the mushrooms and shallots and set them aside for now. Add in your seasoned chicken breast halves (as usual, I season with Tony’s) and cook those until done. Sometimes, I have to add in a little more butter or oil at this point (sigh) since removing the mushrooms also removes some of the fat you’re supposed to be cooking the chicken in. When the chicken is cooked through, add back the mushrooms/shallots to reheat, and top with shredded cheese. You don’t really need to leave the pan on the heat because the residual heat is enough to melt the cheese.

Probably the best part of this recipe is those pan drippings. Get a hunk of bread and pick up a little juice and cheese. Go on, you know you want to. Just a warning though: when I ate a piece of bread soaked in that buttery goodness, I’m pretty certain I felt my chest tighten. Just sayin.

Here’s the recipe. Again, I deviate pretty heavily from the directions given here.

Chicken Georgia
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time:5 min
Cook Time:35 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese

Directions
Melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and shallots and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes on each side, or until tender. Transfer chicken to platter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Top with mushroom mixture. Cook and let stand 5 minutes or until cheese melts.