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The sky is giving us a tremendous light show tonight and the thunder has scared the cats into the guest room under the bed. Not to worry, the dog and I are fat and happy thinking about the wonderful sous vide chicken chicken breast with mushroom sauce we shared for dinner. I shared mine with Charlie. John doesn’t share with the dog.
Before I get to the good food, I want to share my vertigo situation with you in case you or someone you know suffers from benign positional vertigo. It’s something I’ve endured for the past ten years or so and some days were better than others but most days always felt like I’d just gotten over a really bad hangover.
A few months ago my GP suggested that I get tested again because new maneuvers have been discovered that can help. I wasn’t too hopeful because I’d been told just to learn to live with it. That’s tough when the room twirls around and you climb a flat floor. I went for the tests and I was so sick they couldn’t finish. I was in bed for 3 days with the world swirling around me.
Then I was sent to Annie Cramsie, a vestibular physiotherapist who only deals with people like me. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is caused by teensy crystals leaving the inner ear and traveling through the semi-circular canals in the ears. They disturb the fluid in the canals and your brain thinks you’re spinning around.
Yes, she gave me the same test and yes I got so sick and yes I had to leave. Bless her heart, she got excited and said, “Look, I know you don’t feel well but we have a diagnosis and it’s curable but not today. I can’t do the fix while you’re throwing up.” Fair enough. I tested a 5 out of 5 in one ear and a 4.5 out of 5 in the other. It can’t get much worse so it was obvious it would take some time to get the crystals back where they belong.
I returned two weeks later and had the first Epley maneuver. I was greenish but I kept my lunch. No bending over, no lifting, just rest for 24 hours. I felt better. Not 100%, but definitely better. I’ve since had 3 maneuvers on my right ear, 1 on the left and this week we tested the lateral canals. Yep, full of crystals but not so bad we couldn’t do a fix on those. Guess what? I’m 90% better. Seriously. 90%. That’s like a nearly normal human being. I can turn my head without moving my whole body, I can look up in the shower and hopefully only a few more visits to be 100%.
If you know anyone suffering with positional vertigo, have them see a vestibular specialist. I would have done it years ago if I’d known. Now, on to this chicken that John, Charlie and I loved.
I bought some lovely free range chicken breasts from my butcher and I didn’t want to eat dry, tough chicken and sometimes there’s a tiny window between underdone, well cooked and overdone. This afternoon I lightly salted the chicken breasts and vacuum sealed them and popped them in the sous vide machine for 90 minutes at 60 degrees Celsius (that’s 140 degrees Fahrenheit). When they were done I put them in the refrigerator.
After putting the vegetables on to cook I made a lovely sauce to go over the chicken. A little bit of French shallots, a little bit of garlic, a little bit of butter, some sliced mushrooms, a little bit of port and a little bit of cream. I cooked it down and tasted it and decided I could eat just the sauce.
Eating only sauce is not a good thing for the waistline so I put the grill pan on high heat and while it was getting smoking hot I took out the chicken, dried it off with paper towels and rubbed it well with oil. It was already perfectly cooked so all I wanted was some grill marks and a bit of smoky flavor. Bingo. The chicken was moist, full of chickeny flavor and that sauce was to die for. Charlie and I ate the right half of this chicken breast and I had the other half in a sandwich for lunch today. Still good!
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 3 French shallots finely chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms (any sort you like, I had button)
- 2 tablespoons port wine
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 cup cream
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- Pre-heat sous vide to 60C/ 140F
- Lightly salt chicken breasts and vacuum seal
- When water temperature is right, add the chicken breasts to the water, cover and leave for at least 90 minutes or up to 4 hours.
- After 90 minutes remove from sous vide and place in an ice bath for a few minutes, dry off and either store in the refrigerator for later or remove from pouch, dry off and prepare for serving.
- In a skillet on medium heat, add the oil and the shallots and stir and cook for 2-3 minutes before adding the the butter and garlic and stir for a minute.
- Raise the temperature to medium-high and add the mushrooms and cook til they release their liquid and it evaporates.
- Add the port wine and cook until it's nearly evaporated and then add the stock. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the cream.
- Cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens and add the pepper. Taste for seasoning and add salt if it needs it. My stock was salty and I didn't need any.
- Heat a grill pan to smoking hot
- Oil the chicken breasts and place in the grill pan and leave only until the chicken is heated through and you have some nice marking from the pan. Remember the chicken is fully cooked so leaving it on more than a minute or so per side could overcook the chicken.
- Serve with sauce
I am sorry you have been suffering for all of these years but I am delighted that you have found a procedure that is working and you are getting relief. I really hate that feeling of the floor breathing… I love anything smothered in mushrooms so this recipe has my vote.
Vertigo runs in my family, and I suffered a few episodes over the years, but not too often. Last one was maybe 1 year ago, and strong enough to prevent me from leaving the bed for 30 minutes, I was too scared to move. I will keep your information handy, so that if things get worse I jump into action. It is a very tough problem to go through, one of my aunts back in Brazil has it really bad.
Loved your recipe….. you are doing great with the sous-vide!
I am so thrilled to hear you are having good results in dealing with vertigo! Lovely recipe and you make me wish I had a sous vide on hand. Here’s to only love making your world go around!
My husband had a couple of bouts with vertigo – it’s SO awful! So glad you’re better…
What a beautiful meal – the chicken looks fork tender!
Oh, I do want a sous vide machine! You must be thrilled to have found a treatment that works.
Oh Maureen – so sorry to hear you’ve been suffering through vertigo – a friend of mine had it really bad too – and she was given a very similar diagnosis – she stayed home for almost 3 months before she started feeling better. I am glad you are upto 90% Hoping you are 100% soon!
Btw – this chicken looks so tender – and that sauce is simply divine!
I have suffered from that kind of vertigo. I wore a patch. Eventually after a year or two it just went away.
I get it occasionally when I get dehydrated. It’s horrible. I am soooooo glad that you are so much better.
I am not surprised you, John and Charlie loved this dish. Delicious. Very delicious. I still have the post of how you met John running around in my head. So romantic. My best friend who has been married 25+ yrs to a New Zealander has a somewhat similar story.
I find really amazed about this vertigo.
I know some persons with it.
And Im glad you feel better Maureen.
Really difficult!
BTW this chicken look amazing Maureen and love mushrooms 🙂
That is awesome news that your vertigo has 90% disappeared! I bet that is making a difference to your days, Maureen. Thankfully, Peter’s is slowly passing too… I think his has been more viral than anything. Loving your sous vide chicken dish… is there anything more delicious than a good mushroom sauce?!
I’m so glad the treatment helped you.
The combination of mushrooms and chicken is something I always enjoy.
So glad your vertigo is on the mend! This chicken looks scrumptious, love the mushroom sauce!
Really interesting info about your vertigo. Very glad you’re finding something that helps, and hope you’re 100% soon. Sounds like you’ve endured torture the last few years with it, though — doesn’t sound pleasant at all. Anyway, good luck with get to 100%. And thanks for this recipe — you’re convincing me I really need to get a sous vide machine! Sounds like such a fund device, and this chicken looks excellent. Thanks.
Maureen, I’m so pleased to hear that h=you are getting some relief. I just can’t imagine what that constant vertigo would be like.
I can imagine how nice that chook was, though. I’ll be giving that mushroom sauce a go, too.
Hi Maureen, I have to buy myself a sous-vide machine, your chicken looks perfectly cooked.
Wonderful news about your vertigo. I’ve heard about this treatment – so happy for you! My mother suffered from vertigo too. This chicken looks pretty amazing too – I could eat that every day! Have a great weekend!
G’day! As one whose brain has been retrained due to a car accident, can more than be empathetic with you Maureen and is not nice to say the least to!
Your chicken I’m picking today as looks great!
This is now on my list to do! Thank you! Sharing! Cheers! Joanne
Aww, I hope you like it, Joanne. I’m working on brain retraining too. It seems I have some scar tissue in my right ear that’s causing slow connections and loss of balance.
SO glad to hear about your vertigo. Modern medicine is wonderful………and so is your Sous Vide Chicken with Mushrooms. At the first picture I wanted to lick my computer monitor. Oh!!! That looks so delicious.
Maureen, you must feel like you have a new lease on life, after fixing your vertigo. I’ve always steered away from chicken breasts due to their ‘dryness’, but it sounds like the sous vide machine is the answer to that problem. I believe you mentioned eating the chicken with Charlie- did John like it too?
Maureen that is wonderful news! Yay to being able to look up in the shower and have the world be a bit still for you. Do you think I could make this in the thermomix? Do you have to vacuum seal one breast per bag or can you do them both together?
Yes, you missed that. I shared with Charlie but John doesn’t share with the dog 🙂
I used a large back and put two chicken breasts on either side of the bag. Once it was vacuum sealed I popped it in the sous vide. If you can fit the chicken breasts in the basket and keep them covered with 60 degree water, this will work for you.
Dear Maureen, I am very happy to hear that you feel better. It must feel wonderful to be almost back to 100% better.
As for the chicken it looks wonderfully delicious!
Blessings dear. Catherine
Oh Maureen – I do wish I had known your diagnosis. I have had this for decades but ‘fix myself’ with a modified Epley or simply sitting at the edge of the bed and throwing myself first one side onto the bed , then slowly up and then to the other side . . .repeating 3-4 times. Better almost immediately – I do repeat for a few days . . . often can go for a year or two after . . . no real problems as soon as I begin the exercises immediately I wake up with some vertigo . . . have a good weekend and a pat to Charlie!!
I’ve had an ENT do the tossing on the bed, no joy there. I’ve had several maneuvers done in the past by other physios and no joy. This time, it’s a winner. Thanks so much for your comment!
Great that this has worked: daresay mine has always been somewhat milder: my neurologist ‘caught’ it some 20 years ago and I hated her then for making me ‘throw myself around’ but it has worked 🙂 !
Whatever works. I know that the slow rotation got the crystals back in the inner ear where they belong and I’m feeling more normal every day.
So glad you are finally getting some relief from your positional vertigo!! What a horrible thing to deal with. I had it for 6 weeks many years ago, but mine was due to an inner ear infection. I can’t even imagine dealing with that for years. Hope the improvement is permanent and it keeps getting better and better. I can you are have a blast with your sous vide machine. Love this chicken and mushroom dish! The port makes it extra special for me.
I’m so glad you’ve found a woman who can help you with your condition. I don’t know how you’ve managed to put up with it for as long as you have. I think I might have told you that I once had terrible vertigo. I was vomiting if I so much as turned my head. I had to lie in bed with my eyes closed and not move a muscle or the room would spin. I ended up in hospital for a couple of days. They don’t know what caused it and they didn’t give me any treatment but fortunately it went away. They thought I had a brain tumour! I do love a sous vide meal and it’s always good to share your food with dogs. It’s so true that when cooking chicken there’s just a nano-second between raw and burnt to a crisp. Must depart – have to pick up my geriatric girls from the groomer! xx
Love that mushroom sauce! I bet it takes this chicken to whole another level!
Thanks Ami, so nice of you to visit!
Certainly not every dog gets to have sous vide Chicken for dinner but then they aren’t Charlie are they?. I am so glad you are getting better. You are quite amazing really because you are a very busy person and you have learnt to cope where most people wouldn’t have. I cant imagine feeling like that all the time. Most of us take looking up for granted in the shower ( Ps what were you looking up to anyway. Was John in there with you?)
I’m NOT telling, just know that I can look up now. 🙂
that is amazing that you feel so much better already! This dish looks fantastic and I would not share it with my dogs 🙂
I was better by the following afternoon. About 50% after the first maneuver. I was astonished.
Dry chicken is dreadful Maureen, it’s fantastic with the sous vide method and the sauce sounds lovely too.
I’m so happy you’re feeling better! How marvelous that it’s made such a difference straight away 🙂
Oh my goodness Maureen, that sounds awful! To think that you were dealing with all of that while you were dealing with everything else. I wish we lived closer so we could help!
I have suffered from Vertigo in the past and it is very unpleasant. On a happier note, that chicken looks amazing and as a Sous Vide owner, I have to say I love cooking in mine! Karen
It’s not pleasant but thankfully now I know what causes mine and how to cure it. I’m learning to do the maneuvers by myself.
So sorry to hear you’ve been suffering for so long. But 90% better? That’s incredible! Sending good thoughts your way!
Oh, I almost forgot about the chicken. Increds. Want. Pinned!
I am thrilled that your vertigo is so much improved!!! Hooray. And your chicken dinner looks amazing…like John, I don’t think I’d share 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear you suffer from vertigo. My sister does but hers seems to go away within a day or two; however a friend of mine suffers badly. I’ve not kept in touch with her and your post makes me want to see how she is doing. I’m sure is a most awful thing to go through.
This recipe is me all over! Its is a perfect meal for guests – looks so elegant but easy to pull together. I could lick up the sauce; sounds amazing!
Maureen, I am happy to hear that your vertigo is under control. And, I am so envious that you have that great cooking machine. There was a demo with it at the IFBC in Seattle recently. Maybe Santa will bring me one….:)
Thanks, Pat. I wanted a sous vide machine for a long time but I refused to pay the huge price. A department store had a huge sale at 75% off and I ordered one. Win!
I’m SO happy to hear about your vertigo improvement. It had to be miserable to live that way. I have a young friend (30 years old) who had the same thing and she’s better now too. YIPEE! I think this delicious looking chicken would be the perfect way to celebrate any good news. It would certainly make my heart sore, oops I mean soar 🙂
LOL I would have loved to have been there when you read my comment. I can see the grin from ear to ear and then your eyes probably rolled. Yes, it’s great news that I’m now back to being part of the normal world. 🙂
This is pretty much a perfect meal to me.. especially with that amazing mushroom sauce. I might just slurp it up with a spoon! 😉
I HAVE eaten sauce with a spoon. I let my husband taste a sauce once and he thought it had a bit of sweetness. I thought that meant he didn’t like it so I ate it. He was less than amused that I got sauce and he didn’t. 🙂
i gotta try sous vide cooking chef….
your sous vide chicken breast looks damn delicious!!!
I have never made chicken or sauce that looks so good. Broccoli on the other hand…I can do. Sous vide looks like “perfection by Maureen”.
I found your account of going to see a vestibular specialist really interesting. I don’t have vertigo, but found it interesting nonetheless. Here’s to being 100% ! Your chicken dinner looks fabulous – John is a little mean for not sharing with the dog, but I can see why he didn’t want to.
He never shares with the dog. Poor Charlie. (although, he went to the vet yesterday and he needs to lose a few kilos so *someone* has fed him)
Maureen, came for the chicken breasts, stayed for the vertigo! 🙂 So sorry to hear you’ve had to deal with that for so many years. I have a dear friend who has suffered with it for many years. Thank you for sharing this information with your readers; I can’t wait to pass it along to my friend.
I had no idea there was a real ‘cure’ for my vertigo. The specialists had told me I needed to learn to live with it. So I did but that meant never turning my head. I always turned my whole body and I’m having to re-learn how to turn my head without thinking. 🙂
Oh my gosh! You poor thing, I can completely relate. My husband suffered from Ménière’s disease for years before they chemically killed a nerve in the ear. He’s deaf now in one ear, but at least he’s not flat on his back. I’m so glad they found help for you! PS – the chicken looks fantastic. Pinned it for the future. 🙂
What a thing to suffer through! I’m so glad you’ve found a solution and that you’re better. My best friend’s husband suffers from vertigo so I’m definitely telling him about your solution, thank you for sharing something so personal.
I’m green with envy, you have a sous vide machine? As I understand it, it’s the only safe way to prepare sous vide because it holds the temperature consistent. Your chicken and sauce look delicious and so pretty offset with the green broccoli in the background.
My aunty had vertigo and she did suffer so much! I am happy to hear you are feeling better now from it!
On a nicer note, this chicken breast looks fantastic, my brother saw a picture when he came in just now and asked why I don’t cook 😛
Beautiful photos!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Dear Maureen,
Glad to hear you are up to 90%. Stay well. Your chicken breast looks cute with that sous vide seam line along the side.
I am so sorry to hear how long you have suffered with vertigo. It’s such wonderful news to hear you are getting some relief from this new doctor. I hope it continues and your symptoms of vertigo go away for good. 🙂
This chicken dish looks like a perfect low carb meal for me to try. I have never tried the sous vide method of cooking… but it certainly gives wonderful looking results. 🙂
I’ve been quite successful with the sous vide machine so I’ll keep playing with it. 🙂
This is the kind of meal I can have every single day!! No exaggeration.
I have a friend who suffers through this. I will definitely share and glad you are 90% better!!!!
I hope you are feeling better – you need some lazy do-nothing days, though I know “lazy” and “do nothing” are not words in your vocabulary. This chicken dish looks like comfort food – I need to try sous vide!
Good to hear that your vertigo problem has been nearly solved Maureen. Now you can come visit us soon no? =)
Love the look of your mushroom sauce. In fact I cooked something similar today. I love this kind of food but my husband prefers his Indian food (although I added spices!)
This is one of my next projects it to sous vide something. I had tried it in the restaurant and I am amazed on how perfectly it was cooked
Oh Maureen I’m so happy to see that the procedure is helping your vertigo, your experiences sound so harrowing and it’s a relief to know that it’s curable! And then after all this you turn around and make such a gorgeous meal, how do you do it!?
Aww, folks like us cook to unwind, right? I’m at peace in the kitchen. 🙂
Excellent recipe! I made only a few changes.
First, I moved the chicken right from the Sous Vide to a cast iron pan for browning and then held it in the warming drawer at 165 degrees while I made the sauce. By making the sauce in the same pan I browned the chicken I was able to use the fond in the sauce.
Aside from that I made the recipe as written.
Sounds good! I’ll try your changes.