Chicken Forestiere

This is a very quick supper and can be on the table within 20 minutes.  Quite special too.  There are many versions of this dish, but it is essentially sauteed chicken breasts with mushrooms, garlic and shallot and a sauce made with the pan juices and some sort of alcohol - Madeira in our case, or you could use white or red wine or sherry - each will give a different finish.  You can add a little cream too if you like.  So, I cut two chicken breasts in half horizontally to make four escalopes or paillards.  Have ready about 100g or so of mushrooms, sliced (I used some lovely organic chestnut mushrooms), a finely-chopped shallot, a clove of garlic, minced, and a sprig or two of fresh thyme.  Also have ready 60mls of alcohol of choice and a couple of tablespoons of stock or water.  Season the chicken well with salt and pepper on both sides.  In a large pan over a medium to high heat, melt 10g of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.  Put the chicken in and leave it to sizzle and brown for 2 minutes - don't poke it!  Turn it over and let the other side brown nicely for a further 2 minutes or so until just cooked.  Take out onto a plate and keep warm, covered with foil.  Add a further 10g of butter to the pan and throw in the thyme, shallots, mushrooms and garlic and stir until the mushrooms give off their liquid.  With the heat turned up, add the booze and water and stir to deglaze the pan.  Bubble and reduce slightly, adding a couple of spoons of double cream or creme fraiche if liked (we didn't).  Throw in a little chopped parsley, add the juices that will have accumulated from the plate of chicken, and then serve the escalopes with the sauce spooned over.  Perfect with some new potatoes and the first stems of English asparagus of the year.