Chicken Marsala

There's chicken dishes and then there's chicken dishes and this Chicken Marsala is a capital "c" Chicken dish! Incredible how many ways you can cook cluck isn't it? I don't know about you, but we never seem to get tired of it but obviously we don't attend too many functions where dead chicken's de rigueur (proper). I can hear the big guy right now..."if you meant proper, why didn't you just say proper instead of using "them" fancy words I'm just gonna' have to look up." Neener, neener ha, ha, ha!

Anyway, we invited one of Steve's graduating students over for dinner last night and I'm always kinda' worried about cooking the wrong thing. I mean I recall specifically a dinner party in my BBG days (before big guy) that I'd based on a Caribbean theme. Everything, absolutely everything on the extensive menu had rum in it and one of the guests apparently had a very strong aversion to that particular alcohol. I was frantic as almost all of my extra "ka-ching" had gone into that one party right down to the dishes, so I couldn't even order pizza. I just went ahead and served what I'd prepared and prayed there wouldn't be a death in the house that evening. Thankfully he didn't require an EMT but ever since I've been more particular about menu selections and chicken's a pretty safe bet.

While this particular chicken dish is a bit of a pain because almost everything has to be cooked at the last minute, I was able to prep a bit before hand which took some of the heat off. I reduced the chicken stock, cooked the shallot/mushroom mixture, and pounded the heck outa' the chicken all in advance, refrigerating it until needed. Then just before serving, I floured the chicken and cooked it quickly in a butter/oil mixture, then prepared the sauce. Believe you me, this dish is all about the sauce...dry Marsala wine, reduced chicken stock, heavy cream, mushrooms and sage, a hint of lemon - it's all there and it is some delicious. Download Chicken Marsala

Served over some lemon pepper tagliatelle courtesy of Trader Joe's and a Caprese salad (tomato and mozzarella with fresh basil) on the side, dinner was a real winner. About the only hint I can give you is - remember not to cook your chicken too much or it'll dry out. Four minutes total - 2 minutes a side in a hot pan is about all you'll need. Oh, one more thing, prepare your sauce almost completely before you cook the pasta. Silly me - I figured the 8 minutes it would take the pasta to cook was more than sufficient to reduce the sauce....uhh I was wrong. It took a lot longer which meant the pasta that I'd cooked to al dente' was more than that by the time we ate. It's all about timing isn't it and for sure the sauce/chicken will hold better than the pasta, so head's up!

Wondering what we had for dessert? Well I'm gonna' keep you hanging on about that until tomorrow because, as you can tell from the picture, we'll be eating leftovers tonight for dinner. I promise dessert is worth waiting for but I will give you a little hint...picture white chocolate and strawberries. 

Comments

[steve]

That's true we will be eating it again tonight - everyone can tell 'cause there are two pictures of it in the post that appear to be the same. Teach you to use them fancy words on me. :-) LU

[Cathy]

I've never had chicken marsala, only veal. This just went to the top of the try pile.

[June]

Steve - LOLOL - woops fixed it. Blame it on all those allergy drugs that DON'T WORK!!!

Cathy - veal's almost impossible to find here, but the chicken worked really well. Can't wait to hear what you think about it.

[noble pig]

Oh that turned out nice, I love Marsala sauce, it's so versatile!

[June]

I agree - it is versatile. I think it would be fabulous on just about anything.

[Sarah G]

Looks delicious. I have a friend who is allergic to alcohol. That is no fun because I often like to throw a splash in several recipes.

[June]

Wow, kinda' puts pollen allergies into perspective. I don't know what I'd do if I developed a food or alcohol allergy.