What I Made for Dinner :: Chicken with Onion & Mushroom Dijon Sauce

When I graduated from high school, I had no idea that in 20 years' time I would be trading recipes and Instagram photos of food with my high school friends. But here I am, asking for links to recipes, drooling over restaurant pics, and sharing my own cooking tips with the same friends I used to gossip about boys with!

This recipe for Chicken Breasts with Mushroom and Onion Dijon Sauce came from my friend G, a highly-accomplished career woman, dedicated mother and wife, and gourmet home cook. There's a really good chance I haven't seen her in 15 years; it's been so long I don't recall at all the last time we saw each other in person. But social media -- despite its many ills -- has reconnected us and made us aware of our mutual interest in food. There's something special about being connected through food, and sharing a meal, even if it is across the country!

I adapted the recipe to suit what I had in the fridge at the time. Despite all of the changes, it still tasted the way I imagined it should taste, and it was quite good:

• I only had about a cup/cup and a half of mushrooms, and I used a brown onion instead of a red onion.
• I used chicken thighs; I'm not a fan of chicken breast.
• I didn't have any rosemary so I substituted fresh thyme.
• Instead of cream I used half and half.
• I only had whole grain Dijon mustard so I used two tablespoons of that, thinking it's a bit stronger than regular Dijon.

G's dish looked much better than mine ... served with leftover sticky rice "risotto," my dish looks like one big beige blob! But the sauce was delicious and easy to make. For the most part, I usually have the ingredients necessary to make this dish so it'll be good to keep this recipe in mind when I need some variation in my chicken rotation. 

But I do have a question about using dairy to make a cream sauce ... what can I do to prevent the dairy from curdling and separating? I guess I could temper it a bit, but this recipe calls for a quarter cup of cream, which really isn't much. How do I temper that much liquid? Should I bring the cream (or half and half, in my case) to room temperature before adding it to the pan? Mix it with the stock first? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!