Chicken Marsala Made Easy

In my efforts to purge my home of the plethora of cooking magazines I have been going through piles of them each night, tearing out recipes I'd like to try which has left me with a new pile of torn up magazine pages!

A recipe that I've tried before with minimal success (mostly because if a lack of the right wine!) is Chicken Marsala. So when I came across "Improving Chicken Marsala" recipe in an old issue of Cook's Country I knew I might have the solution to my problems.

So here we go:

Ingredients:

• 8 thin-cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I prefer tenderloins - pound them out so they're even)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 TBS olive oil (or vegetable oil or healthy oil of your choice)
• 3 TBS unsalted butter (divided into three parts)
• 1/2 of a small onion, chopped fine
• 8 ounces mushrooms (I prefer baby bellas to white mushrooms) trimmed and quartered (I sliced them...poh-tay-toh, po-tahh-to)
• 1 large garlic clove (or two...I usually go a little nuts on the garlic)
• 3/4 cup sweet marsala (you can find this near the port and sherry - it's important to get this right!)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (low sodium or not - it's ok)
• 2 teaspoons (FRESH!) lemon juice (please oh please, if you have one of those squeezy plastic lemon juice thingies in your refrigerator throw it out. Now. Get a lemon or two each time you shop - if you don't use it in a recipe just slice it and put it in your water. It's good for you and it is soooo much better than that fake stuff. Blech!!)
• 1 TBS fresh parsley (this is optional)

Step 1: pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in flour to coat and shake off excess.

Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a large skillet (use a stainless skillet, not nonstick - so you can deglaze the pan later) over high heat until just smoking. Add 4 cutlets and cook until golden brown (about 2-2.5 minutes per side. Be sure they are a nice golden brown - brown = flavor! Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Do the same with other four cutlets (and another TBS of oil)

Browning the mushrooms and onions.

 Step 2: Heat a TBS of butter in the empty skillet over medium heat until foaming (this will get the butter to a nice and nutty flavor) Cook the onions and mushrooms together until browned (might take a little longer depending on the mushrooms...just be sure they are browned and not a lot of liquid is being released. See photo above.) Transfer mushroom mixture to a bowl and cover with foil.

NOW THE SAUCE! 

So good I dug into it before I remembered to take a photo!

Step 3: Add the Marsala wine and chicken broth to the empty skillet, scraping up any bits from the pan, bring to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced to about 1/2 of a cup (about 5 minutes..just keep an eye on it). Reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken and its accumulated juices to the skillet. Turn the chicken to heat through for about a minute. Put chicken on serving platter or plates.

Off heat: whisk in the remaining 2 TBS of butter, the lemon juice and the parsley (if you have it...only use fresh here - no dried) and the mushroom mixture. Pour over the chicken and serve!

Success!

Now the torn out page has made its way to a plastic sleeve that is in a 3-ring recipe binder (the keeper recipes!)