Chicken Marsala
This Italian-American dish gets it’s name from the red cooking wine that is used to make the sauce. It’s a fancy pants entree that is super easy. Marsala wine is produced in Sicily, Italy and you can find it at any liquor store. It’s usually not very expensive.
I recommend serving this with rice or polenta or pasta; anything that will help soak up all that lovely sauce. In fact, you might want to double the amount of sauce. Yeah, it’s that good. Add your favorite vegetable side dish and you’ve got a meal worth bragging about.
This recipe makes 4 portions
The Stuff You Need:
4 small – or – 2 large Chicken breasts, about 4 ounces per person
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Flour (Brown rice or Potato flour for gluten free)
6 Tablespoons Butter (you can use Olive oil for some or all of the butter)
1 Tablespoon chopped, fresh Sage – or – 1/2 teaspoon dried sage*
10-16 oz fresh Mushrooms, sliced thin
1 Cup Marsala wine
1 Cup Chicken Stock
Garnish Options: Chopped parsley, chopped scallions
How To Do This:
- Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and trim off any fat.
- Starting with the smooth side up, cover one chicken breast in plastic wrap and pound with the pointy end of a meat mallet to about 1/2″ thickness.** Flip the chicken breast over, recover with plastic wrap and pound with the flat side of the mallet to no thinner than 1/4″. The purpose here is to tenderize; not completely flatten.
- If you are using two large breasts and you want to make 4 portions, cut them in half along the center line where the meat fibers converge in a kind of “V” pattern.
- Season both sides of each chicken breast with salt & pepper (and dried sage if using). Dredge, or lightly coat Chicken in flour.
- Melt half the butter in a skillet or frying pan over medium high heat. Add fresh sage (if using) and sauté, or lightly fry, for about 1 minute. Add half the chicken and brown about 2 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a platter and tent with foil. Keep it warm in a low oven; about 200 degrees.
- Brown remaining chicken 2 minutes per side and transfer to the platter in the oven.***
- Sauté the mushrooms in the same pan, adding butter as needed. When the mushrooms are near done, add the Marsala and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature to low and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. The volume of liquid should be reduced by about half and it should look slightly thickened and syrupy.
- Remove chicken breasts from oven and pour any juices into the mushroom sauce, stirring well.
- Plate your chicken and pour mushroom sauce over the chicken breasts and garnish if desired.
Notes:
*Not a fan of sage? Try Thyme instead. Same amount for fresh or dried.
**If you don’t have a meat mallet, use the bottom of a small sauce pan or the bottom of a sturdy coffee mug. Or, cover a regular hammer with plastic wrap and use the flat side edge, but, be gentle. If you want to purchase a meat mallet, it looks like a two-headed hammer, only it’s used for meat instead of nails. Any Dollar store would be a good place to look for one.
***Some versions of this dish call for Shallots or Onion. If you want to try this, add about 1/2 cup, thinly sliced at step 7. When the onions start to soften, go ahead and add your mushrooms.
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