Chicken Escarole with Mushroom Balsamic Cream Sauce

Good Stuff!

This dish is actually my interpretation and combination of two different recipes- Chicken Escarole and Chicken with Wild Mushroom and Balsamic Cream Sauce. The first is a recipe I found on Cooks.com and the second is a Rachel Ray recipe. I made some changes to each recipe and then melded them together.

I did like the combination of the two recipes, but at the same time, I also wondered if there was too much going on in one plate. I guess I'll have to try the individual recipes to know for sure.
If you try it, let me know what you think!

Chicken Escarole with Mushroom Balsamic Cream Sauce

For Chicken:
2 chicken breast halves, butterflied and cut into two pieces (for a total of 4 cutlets)
1 egg
Flour
Head of escarole, cleaned and chopped
1/4 cup black olives, sliced
Garlic, crushed
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan or Romano cheese
Olive oil

Boil escarole in large pot until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain and squeeze out excess water and dry with paper towels. Set aside.

Dip chicken cutlets in egg and then in flour. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, add chicken and cook until light golden brown on both sides. Set chicken aside.

In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute crushed garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chopped escarole and olives and cook for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

For Mushroom Cream Sauce:
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons butter
10 ounce box white mushrooms, sliced
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, a couple of sprigs, chopped
2 large shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half, (If you're a purest, use real cream)
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add extra-virgin olive oil and butter. Once the butter melts, add the mushrooms and brown stirring occasionally for about 4 to 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms are brown season with salt and pepper then add the garlic, thyme and shallots.

Cook stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes or until the shallots are wilted. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and cook 2 minutes more.

Whisk in the stock, balsamic vinegar and the half-and-half. Turn the heat up to high and simmer for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the parsley.

Pour the sauce into a buttered casserole dish. Nestle the chicken in the sauce and top with the escarole mixture. Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Serve with rice or pasta.