Alabama - The Yellowhammer State, State flower: Camellia

1. Tuskegee Soup
2. Smothered Breast of Chicken
3. Hopping John
4. Spinach
5. Peanut Butter Cornbread
6. Southern Pecan Pie

Smothered Breast of Chicken - Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, (2 whole breasts, boned and skinless.)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
1 onion, sliced
Salt & pepper
½ Cup sherry water (¼ C. sherry plus ¼ C. water.)
Generous pinch dry mustard
1 sprig sweet basil or ½ tsp dried sweet basil
2 leaves sage or ½ tsp dried sage
1 whole clove
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp flour, make into a thin paste with cold water or milk

Heat olive oil and butter in a medium size skillet or sauté pan (about 9.5 inches). In it sauté the garlic until it begins to brown, then, discard garlic.

Cook onion in the fat over low heat until translucent. Push the onion to one side of the skillet and sauté chicken until lightly browned. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add sherry water and seasonings. Cover and simmer. When chicken is tender, maybe about an hour…but check it, remove the chicken but keep it warm.

Stir the flour paste into the skillet mixture and add enough milk to make a thin gravy. Cover and let gravy simmer about 5 minutes or until the gravy thickens. Add more milk, again thinning the gravy. Cover and cook slowly until the gravy is of the desired consistency and the raw flour taste has disappeared. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper and return chicken breasts to the sauté pan.

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