I apologize in advance for the unusually delayed blog post. I was out of town last weekend, enjoying a few days with good friends, canoeing, and spending hours in the sunshine (something you don't often get to do if you have a 9-5, Monday-Friday desk job). My husband and I traveled to the quaint little town of Red Wing, Minnesota yesterday for his cousin's wedding. It was held in an amazing, round barn and the entire event was so beautiful and filled with emotion. Everyone had a wonderful time. I love weddings! And we danced our little butts off.
After a couple of busy work weeks and fun-filled weekends, I'm tired today. We got back from Red Wing this morning and J spent his whole day off work trying to sell his Dad's car and then fixing his cousin's. I went to the gym for a good workout, had a mini-Arrested Development Marathon, and decided I wanted to try a new recipe. I am currently enjoying a full tummy, a nice glass of white wine, and gearing up for the VMAs. They're always ridiculous but fun to watch. And Lady Gaga's performing! Eeee! And a Britney Spears tribute! Eeee!
I made Chicken Marsala this afternoon from the super-useful America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Chicken Marsala is something my Mom made often when I was younger but I haven't had it in years. I figured I was due. Interestingly, many of the steps are very similar to the Chicken Piccata I made last week and I'm getting the hang of browning chicken and making buttery pan sauces. An important skill!
THE MISSION: Chicken Marsala
THE INGREDIENTS: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 3 ounces pancetta or bacon chopped fine, 8 ounces white button mushrooms sliced thin, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 teaspoon tomato paste, 1.5 cups sweet Marsala, 1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter cut into 3 pieces, 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley.
I ended up using bacon instead of pancetta because I had some in the fridge and didn't want to purchase more food. It tasted great with the bacon but I'd like to try the pancetta in the future.
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees. Spread the flour in a shallow dish. Pound the thicker ends of the breasts as needed.
Just as with the Chicken Piccata, the breasts should be pounded really thin, into cutlets. That way, they cook through on the stovetop in just a few minutes. You don't want browned chicken that's raw inside. If they cutlets aren't thin enough, that's what you'll get.
Pat dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge through the flour to coat and shake off any excess.
Patting the chicken dry ensures that you'll get a nice even brown on both sides. Moist chicken breasts are difficult to brown without burning. And if I've learned one thing from Rachael Ray, it's that you must season every layer when dredging and pan frying chicken. For this recipe, that means seasoning both the chicken breasts and flour. If we were to bread the chicken, we'd want to make sure that we seasoned the chicken, flour, egg mixture, and bread crumbs. Treat every layer individually.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken and cook until light golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes.
Lovely.
Transfer chicken to a plate and keep warm in the oven. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and return to medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the pancetta/bacon and mushrooms. Cook until pancetta/bacon is crisp and the mushrooms are brown, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and tomato paste. Cook until the tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute. Stir in the Marsala, scraping up any browned bits and simmer until reduced and slightly syrupy, about 8 minutes.
Okay, can we just talk about the smell here for a second? I was hungry when I started cooking the Chicken Marsala, but when the sauce was simmering away it had the most amazing smell and...well...it was a very long 8 minutes waiting for the sauce to get 'syrupy.' I hope heaven smells like food. :)
Stir in the lemon juice and any accumulated chicken juice. Turn the heat low and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time.
Whisking in the butter.
How it looked when all 3 pieces had been whisked in.
Off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce over the chicken before serving.
MISSION COMPLETE:
As you can see, I like a lot of mushrooms and bacon on my chicken.
DEBRIEFING: If you've made Chicken Marsala before, you probably noticed that this recipe didn't call for any chicken stock. Chicken stock is usually used to temper Marsala but for this version we used sweet Marsala. It didn't require any tempering and therefore didn't require chicken stock. If you only have regular Marsala in your cupboard, throw in a splash or two of chicken stock when you add the Marsala to the pan.
This recipe was another winner. This cookbook really is the best. And I love how they dumb it down so cooking novices like me can make it appear to the rest of the world that they can actually cook! My only regret is that I didn't make mashed potatoes to go with the chicken. I don't think that's common but the sauce was a perfect gravy for mashed potatoes. I did have plenty of leftovers, so maybe I'll whip up some potatoes to have with it for dinner tomorrow!
Here's to another week! We're looking so forward to Labor Day festivities next weekend. And that means a three-day weekend! Niiiiiice.
Cheers!
Rachel
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