marsala overload

Not quite sure how this happened, but I managed to end up with three, count em, three bottles of marsala wine in the liquor cabinet.  A fortified wine that will last for ages in a cabinet, marsala makes a fabulous egg yolk-based dessert sauce, called sabayon by the French and zabaglione by the Italians.  It is delicious served over fresh berries.  But I don't make much in the dessert realm, so I wanted a way to use the stuff in a savory dish.

Enter the simple chicken dish called Chicken Marsala.  I haven't made it in ages, but it is a tasty dish with a light sauce that is good served over pasta or mashed potatoes.  There are both dry and sweet versions of marsala, but in general, for cooking, I prefer the sweet version.  It is not overly sweet, and seems to be more mellow when cooked.  Chicken marsala couldn't be more easy.

some sliced mushrooms, a couple cloves of garlic and some chopped chives

garnish some chicken cutlets with a savory sauce

Chicken cutlets are simply chicken breasts that have been cut lengthwise into thin slices.  For really fast cooking, I like to pound them even thinner, until they are about a quarter-inch thick.  They get seasoned with salt and pepper, then dredged in a bit of flour.  They get cooked in a couple of tablespoons of shimmering hot olive oil until they are a light golden brown.

about three minutes a side does the trick

Once the chicken is brown, it comes out of the pan, and in go the sliced mushrooms.  Once they have cooked down a bit, the garlic gets added (I usually just push it through a garlic press) and sauteed for a couple of minutes.  Then in goes about a half a cup of marsala, and a half a cup of chicken broth for a serving for two.  A couple of tablespoons of butter stirred in at the last minute enriches the sauce.

The sauce simmers until it reduces a bit -- if it is too thin

I add a teaspoon or so of the flour left from dredging the chicken

That's as hard as it gets.  Once the sauce has reduced and thickened a bit, the chicken goes back in for five minutes to warm up, then the whole mess goes over a bit of pasta or mashed potatoes, or can simply be spooned onto a plate.  If you are serving it bare, a slice of good garlic toast is nice for sopping up the extra juices.

In my case, I had that leftover squash pasta dough in the freezer, so I rolled a few noodles and piled the chicken marsala on top, then garnished with the chopped chives and some minced parsley.  Beautiful!

the chicken was tender and moist, one advantage of pounding the breasts thin