Breaded Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Gravy

Preheat oven to 350F. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels. Season the chicken on both sides with some seasoning salt and pepper. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

Chop the onion. I put the mushrooms into a food processor and pulse them maybe 5 or 6 times to get them quickly cut up into small pieces. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter. Quickly add the onions and mushrooms. Stir to coat (do not salt). Cook the mushroom mixture for about 15 minutes or until they are starting to brown nicely – stirring every 5 minutes or so. After the mixture is browning nicely, add the garlic and cook one minute longer. Add the soy sauce, water, and a little pepper to the mixture and stir – making sure to get any brown bits off of the bottom of the skillet. Cook about 1 minute longer or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer HALF of the mushroom mixture, which will be used in making the gravy, to a medium-size bowl. Reserve the other half of the mushroom mixture for topping the chicken breasts. To the make the mushroom gravy, add the chicken broth, mushroom soup, and a little pepper to the sauted mushrooms in the bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Wipe out the skillet you used to saute the mushroom mixture. Turn the heat to medium and add two tablespoons of butter to the skillet. While the skillet is reheating and the butter is melting, dip each chicken breast in the beaten eggs and coat in the crushed crackers. Saute the chicken on both sides until the coating has nicely browned – about 3 minutes or so per side. Do not attempt to cook all of the way through since the chicken will finish cooking in the oven.

When browned on both sides, place the chicken breasts in an ungreased 9 x 13″ glass baking dish. Top each breast with some of the reserved mushroom mixture that you had not used in making the gravy. Place two pieces of cheese on top of each chicken breast (folding each piece in half before placing them on top). Spoon the mushroom gravy around the sides of the chicken breasts. Don’t worry about trying to put the gravy on top of the cheese. It’ll just slide off when the cheese melts. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the cheese has browned nicely, the mixture is hot and bubbly, and the chicken is cooked through. To serve, spoon some of the gravy on a plate and place a chicken breast on top of the gravy. Serve with some mashed potatoes.