Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Devil’s Milk Barleywine. All opinions and the Chicken Cremini recipe are my own.

Welcome to the December edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Devil’s Milk Barleywine”, `a hoppy barleywine that will warm you up quick with it’s 10% ABV. I like barleywine’s but they tend to be higher alcohol than I drink on a regular basis. This version was tasty, but had a bit more “hop bite” than I would usually choose. The hop flavor ruled out my original idea of some type of dessert. Instead, I decided to “hop up” on of my favorite chicken dishes – Chicken Marsala.

This recipe is super simple and tasty. The chicken was perfectly moist. But I need to warn you – you can taste the hops. And I wouldn’t add the beer until the very end. It’s very easy to take it from “yum, I can taste the beer” to “OMG, this is super bitter.” You don’t want bitter, trust me. I decide to name this Chicken Cremini instead of because a) it has no Marsala wine in it, b) it doesn’t have the sweetness that Marsala adds, and c) I used cremini mushrooms. You can use any “wild” mushroom and call it whatever you like.

DuClaw Devil’s Milk Chicken Cremini

Ingredients

6 boneless chicken breasts (about 1.5 pounds)
1/2 tsp ground thyme
Salt (optional)
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 pound thinly sliced mushrooms (cremini, shitake, or oyster would work well)
1/4 C chicken broth (if not homemade or reduced salt, eliminate extra salt.)
1/4 C DuClaw Devil's Milk

Instructions

Pound chicken with meat mallet until slightly flattened. (I often skip this step.)
Sprinkle each side with thyme, freshly ground pepper, and salt (if you are using).
Set chicken aside.
Heat oil over medium heat and add mushrooms.
Cook for 2-3 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside.
Cook chicken for 5 minutes on each side and then remove, keeping warm.
Stir in broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the bits and pieces.
Return chicken to pan.
Cover with mushrooms.
Cover pan and reduce heat to low.
Cook until chicken is cooked through. (5-15 minutes depending on thickness of breast. I used a meat thermometer to check.)
Remove pan from heat, remove chicken and mushrooms, and stir in beer.
Serve chicken, mushrooms and beer sauce over rice.