Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms

This is delicious. It reminds me of Chicken Marsala. I served it over buttered spaghetti noodles and a side of steamed broccoli. I found the recipe on All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS:
4 skinless, boneless chicken
breasts
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms,
sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS:
1.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute the chicken until it is nicely browned on one side (about 3 minutes).
2.
Add the garlic. Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the mushrooms over them. Continue frying, shaking the skillet and stirring the mushrooms. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme. Cover tightly and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
3.
Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter and cover with foil. Set aside. Continue simmering the sauce, uncovered, over medium high heat for about 7 minutes. Swirl in the butter or margarine and discard the bay leaf. Pour this mushroom sauce mixture over the chicken and serve.

My changes:
1. I didn't dredge the chicken in flour, i don't like the slimy texture to chicken that has been floured and then cooked in a sauce. To still get the same effect (thickening) of the flour, i mixed the 2 tbl of flour into the chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, along with the ground thyme. i made a slurry of sorts. Then i poured the whole thing in when it said to add to the stock. it worked wonderful.

2. I was a bit leary of the vinegar taste, so i only used 1/8 of a cup of the Balsamic vinegar and filled in the rest with chicken stock. it was perfect this way, imo.

3. I used an aged balsamic vinegar.

4. I didn't have fresh mushrooms, so i used two small cans of sliced mushrooms. Worked wonderfully.

My family really enjoyed this. I think it would go great with alfredo pasta.