Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala (and it's "cousin", Veal Marsala), is a staple in every Italian-American restaurant. Sophisticated as it seems and delicious as it is, it is a simple dish to prepare, made with just a few ingredients - chicken cutlets, sliced mushrooms, minced shallots, thyme and parsley and it's namesake - Marsala wine. At its heart, though, it's just a basic chicken-with-pan-sauce dish.The key, though, is paying attention to what you are doing because things come together quickly.

First a little interesting background. The British deserve at least partial credit for the creation of chicken Marsala, even if that might make more than a few Italians cringe. The dish, which has its roots in Sicily, cannot be made without Marsala wine, which is a wine produced specifically around the city of Marsala in Sicily. And that's where the British influence comes in - they were instrumental in spreading fortified wines like Port and Marsala around the world to their various colonial outposts. Because of its higher alcohol content (thanks to a good dose of hard liquor), fortified wine was able to withstand, and to even be improved by, weeks and months on the open sea. In the case of Marsala specifically, an Englishman named John Woodhouse was responsible for deciding to sell a fortified version of the local Sicilian wine abroad. Eventually that wine found its way into the kitchen, and chicken Marsala was born. 

Start by preparing the chicken cutlets and browning them well. Most supermarkets and butchers sell cutlets already prepared, but you can easily make your own from skinless, boneless chicken breasts by slicing the breasts in half horizontally. 

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Here is some advice from a recipe I found on line that is helpful - 
"In most chicken Marsala dishes, it's also customary to lightly dredge the cutlets in flour before browning them. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing this: The flour can help act subtly to thicken the final pan sauce, but it can also slightly dull the sauce's flavor. The flour also speeds browning by providing a drier (and therefore more browning-prone) surface than the chicken itself, but it's the flour that's browning, not the chicken. That's a mixed blessing. Faster browning is good, since chicken cutlets are thin and cook through rapidly—the quicker you can brown the exterior and get them out of the pan, the better. But since the flour is browning more than the chicken itself, your sauce won't be as flavorful as it would be if it was just the plain chicken protein making contact with the pan.That being said, I still prefer the flour step. If the cutlet is dredged lightly, the flour doesn't affect the sauce's flavor enough to sacrifice the insurance it gives against overcooking, especially with a lean protein like chicken breast, which can quickly take on the consistency of cardboard. On top of that, the flour coating changes the texture of the cutlets themselves, giving them a silkier exterior. To me, that silky exterior is an essential quality of chicken Marsala."

Right after browning the chicken and removing it from the pan, it's time to brown the mushrooms. Mushrooms do not brown quickly. They're loaded with moisture and have to dump it first before any real browning can begin. Being patient and waiting until all that mushroom liquid has cooked off and the slices turn a deeper chestnut color is essential to getting a good, rich flavor in the final dish. Otherwise, it'll taste like steamed mushrooms, and that's not a good thing. As soon as the mushrooms are browned, I add minced shallots and cook them just until translucent.

Now it's time to add the Marsala. While you can certainly drop plenty of cash on a top-notch Marsala, it's easy to find bottles that are good enough to drink and still cost a song. DO NOT USE super market Marsala cooking wine!!! I bought mine - a very drinkable Marsala - for five bucks. About a cup or a little more to the mushrooms and shallots will do the job.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups Marsala wine 
• 3/4 cup homemade chicken stock or low-sodium store-bought broth
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cutlets and pounded about 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick 
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• About 1 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• 8 ounces cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• Minced fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

1. 1.
   Combine Marsala and stock in a mixing bowl or large measuring cup. Set aside.
2. 2.
   Season chicken cutlets all over with salt and pepper. Pour a roughly 1/2-inch layer of flour into a wide, shallow bowl. Dredge each cutlet in flour, tap off excess, and transfer to clean plate.
3. 3.
   Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches if necessary, add chicken and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Using a slotted spatula, transfer to paper towels to drain.
4. 4.
   Add the sliced mushrooms and shallots to the skillet along with the thyme (do not drain remaining oil) and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms have released their juices and browned well, about 10 minutes. Add more oil if pan seems too dry at any point.
5. 5.
   Pour Marsala mixture into pan. Bring to a boil, whisking and scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, until liquids are reduced by about three-quarters. Add butter and whisk constantly until emulsified and sauce takes on the consistency of heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper. Taste sauce and adjust as needed.
6. 6.
   Return chicken cutlets to pan, swirling to bathe them in the sauce and warm them through. Transfer to a warmed serving plate, spooning sauce and mushrooms all over chicken. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Thyme, parsley, shallot

with a side of pasta, or better yet, polenta