Garlic Chicken

• 2lbs chicken, cut in bite sized pieces
• 1 carton crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced 
• 2 shallots, coarsely chopped
• 6-10 cloves of garlic
• 1 carton chicken stock/broth
• 1/4 c. white wine (optional--not to be used during the first 30 days)
• creamed coconut
• coconut oil/ghee/evoo
• Salt & Pepper

1. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil to a large saute pan and melt over medium heat.  Alternately, melt ghee or warm evoo.
2. Add chopped shallots.  
3. Saute shallots until translucent, about 5 minutes.
4. Add sliced mushrooms.  Allow mushrooms to cook about 3 minutes before stirring to let them caramelize a bit.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.
5. Season with a heavy pinch of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste.
6. Remove shallots and mushrooms from pan and hold in a heat proof dish.
7. Increase heat to medium-high.  Using remaining fat in the pan (add more if needed), quickly brown chicken pieces.  It is not important for them to be cooked thru at this point.  It is only important they be browned to develop their flavor.
8. Add white wine (if using) or water to deglaze pan.  (To "deglaze" means to add a liquid to the pan to loosen the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan--use your spoon to help loosen the bits. This adds depth of flavor)
9. Add enough chicken stock/broth to cover the bite-sized chicken pieces. Reduce heat to low and allow the liquid to reduce by half.  
10. Add the shallots and mushrooms to the pan.
11. Add creamed coconut one spoonful at a time until the sauce is a rich creamy texture.  (About 2 tablespoons, but adjust to taste)

Once upon a time, in my pre-paleo days, I would serve my garlic chicken on top of jasmine rice.  And I still do.....every once in a great long while.  In my experience, rice every now and again is ok, but you need to make the personal judgement call based on how you look, feel, and perform.  

Now, instead of rice, I serve this on top of zucchini "noodles" (thin sliced zucchini strips blanched in boiling salt water and sauteed for a minute or so with some coconut oil or ghee), kelp noodles (http://www.kelpnoodles.com/), or every now and then, Paleo Pasta (http://www.paleopasta.com/).  Also great to leave the chicken in whole breast pieces and top with the mushroom and shallot sauce.

Enjoy!