Chicken Marsala
For Valentine’s celebrations, Steve thought up such an exciting idea! He is going to surprise me with an appetizer and dessert; he wants to be surprised by the main entree and side dish. I’m planning to make Chicken Marsala.
In my research on how to make it, I found some interesting recipes:
- a Squidoo Lense is the best resource I found.
- the Olive Garden has recipes on their site. Having worked there in my youth, I can’t trust their food to be healthy or tastey – too oily and gross as I recall.
- the Cooking for Engineers site – their moto is “Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read!” I think Steve should read it heehee. It even has a gantt chart for the timing of this dish (thank you to Michael Chu):
Chicken marsala is an Italian dish made from chicken cutlets and mushrooms with Marsala wine reduction (taken from wiki). The sauce is traditionally made by reducing the wine to nearly the consistency of a syrup while adding onions or shallots and herbs. The sauce is then poured over the chicken, which has been kept in a warming oven, and served immediately. The dish is commonly served with a side of rice pilaf, potatoes, or pasta.
This is the technique I am using (my own interpretation) and I served it over tri-coloured rotini:
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour for coating
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 2 Tbs each: butter and olive oil
- 1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced or quartered
- ¾ cup Marsala wine
- Pound the chicken in plastic to about ¼”. In a shallow dish, mix together the flour and oregano with salt and pepper to taste. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
- In a large skillet, melt the olive oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown on each side. Turn once more and cook until no longer pink and juices run clear, about 10 minutes.
- In a separate pan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms. Be sure to stir constantly until they have a golden colour – it will smell divine! Set the mushrooms aside, then pour wine into the pan to deglaze. Simmer on med-high, uncovered, to reduce the sauce.
- Add mushrooms and chicken to the pan; simmer gently for 1 minute to heat the chicken through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving. Serve over pasta.
