Self Proclaimed Chef: Chicken Marsala

For tonight's entree I decided to go with Chicken Marsala. Let me preface this by saying, I DO NOT like chicken. I know, everyone thinks that makes me a big weirdo but the bird tastes disgusting to me. I also do not like mushrooms. Right about now you are probably thinking why is this crazy lady making Chicken Marsala. The answer is because my husband really likes it and I make him at least one chicken meal a week. If I can disguise the taste of the chicken with a sauce, I can generally get through the meal. It also helps if the chicken is breaded or fried. I went against my better judgement and did not bread this chicken, just floured it. When I have made this dish in the past, I left out the butter because my husband does not like knowing things like butter or heavy cream or cheese is in his food because that stuff is not healthy. I am all about taste, not so much what is good for you. Sometimes you just have to find your inner Paula Deen and butter it up! I decided to use Emeril's recipe because you can never go wrong with a NOLA cook. The whole thing took about 30 minutes.

I buy the thin cut chicken pieces, but you want your chicken to be uniform in thickness so that it cooks evenly. Put it in a Ziploc bag and pound it with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. You do not want to tenderize it, just flatten it out.

After I took my aggression out on the chicken, I made the essence from the recipe with a few variations. I spooned out about 3 spoonfuls of flour. dumped in roughly a tablespoon and a half of garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper, and paprika.

Add a tablespoon of butter with about two tablespoons of EVOO to your pan. I had my heat on 7. Let it get hot. You can stick the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and when the oil has little bubbles around the spoon handle, it is ready for the meat. Add in the chicken breasts. Your chicken will let you know when it is ready to be turned over. The ends will begin to get white around the edges. When this happens, give it a flip. You only want to cook each side around 3-4 minutes. It will completely cook through later with the sauce. You don't want to overcook it because it will dry out.

When the chicken is browned on both sides, remove it from the pan and add the mushrooms along with another teaspoon of butter. You can use what you like. I just grabbed a random mix from the store because it was $1.99. Cook for about 10 minutes, they will start to get brown and juicy.

When the mushrooms are done, it's time to feed them the wine!

I used sweet Marsala wine. You can keep it on the counter or in a cabinet. This wine lasts for a few months because it is fortified.

Add the Marsala wine to the mushrooms and let it reduce by half.

It is very important to let your sauces reduce. This makes the sauce thicken up. Otherwise you are stuck with a sauce you should drink with your dinner rather than serve over your dinner. For me, this is a good time to do the dishes that have accumulated in the sink, and tonight my husband brought home all of his lunch Tupperware he had at work so that kept me busy for the 10 minutes it took for the wine to reduce.

Once the wine has reduced by half, add a cup of chicken broth.

Instead of chicken broth/stock, I like to use Better Than Bouillon which was introduced to me by my genius cooking class teacher. It comes in a ton of different flavors, chicken, beef, veggie, seafood, and if you find yourself cooking with chicken broth often and throwing most of it out like I do, this will save you money. It is concentrated so you only use 1 tsp per 8 oz. It will keep in the fridge for about a year.

Chicken broth added! Smelling so good!

After about 5 minutes it's time to add the chicken back to the pot to finish cooking. Don't forget to add the juice that the chicken gave off in the dish it was sitting in back to the pot also. Add the last 2 teaspoons of butter to this and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. I put the lid half-way over the top and lowered the heat to 4.

My husband really likes his Marsala sauce over pasta so I cooked some penne pasta for about 8-10 minutes, drained it, and stirred it into the pan.

I have to say, I will absolutely make this again. It really was delicious. The sauce was amazing. Even the mushrooms were good with the chicken. My husband liked it so much he even took me to Dairy Queen for a blizzard!

Emeril's recipe is below and a link to the recipe on the Food Network website is below it. I hope you will try this! It is delicious and makes your kitchen smell heavenly. Thanks for stopping by to read my notes! Enjoy!!

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Essence, recipe follows
2 (6 to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in halves and pounded thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups sliced mushrooms (cremini, oyster, shiitake)
3/4 cup Marsala
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped chives, for garnish

Directions

In a shallow bowl or plate combine the flour and Essence and stir to combine thoroughly. Quickly dredge the chicken breast halves in the seasoned flour mixture, shaking to remove any excess flour.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook the chicken breasts until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter to the pan and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are golden brown around the edges and have given off their liquid. Add the Marsala wine and bring to a boil, scraping to remove any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock and cook for 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Lower the heat to medium and return the chicken breasts to the pan and continue to cook until they are cooked through and the sauce has thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, add salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediately.