The Penalty Box

This is a recipe I found off the interwebs and thought it looked interesting. I kinda forgot about pictures until I was almost done, so all you’re getting is the final product and plating. Marsala is a type of wine from an Italian city of Marsala. Aptly named. That wasn’t available in the local liquor store (or I didn’t look hard enough, which is entirely possible), so I just picked up a local non-Chardonnay white wine. Not that I’m a wine expert or anything…I just filed it under “wild ass guess.” Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Chicken Breasts or thighs
• Butter or margarine - couple of table spoons or enough to grease your pan
• Flour - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• Pepper - 2-3 teaspoons
• Garlic - 6-8 fresh, sliced cloves
• Mushrooms - 1 cup sliced
• 1 small onion, sliced
• Dry Marsala - 3/4 cup (here I used a substitute white wine)
• Chicken Broth - 1 can (400mL)

Directions:

1. Slice your chicken breasts or thighs in half. This is important because they’ll cook more thoroughly. I didn’t and ended up having to microwave them to finish cooking.
2. Heat a little olive oil in a large sauce pan.
3. Saute onions until semi-translucent.
4. Melt butter/margarine in your pan.
5. Mix your flour, salt and pepper in a bowl.
6. Coat your chicken in the flour mixture.
7. Cook your chicken in the pan, each side for 7 minutes or so. Don’t put your burner too high because you don’t want to burn the chicken before it’s cooked through.
8. Set cooked chicken aside on a plate for later. Save the flour.
9. Deglaze your pan with the wine. Scrape up the good bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon so you don’t wreck it.
10. Simmer on high for 3-5 minutes.
11. Add garlic to the pan.
12. Reduce for a few more minutes, then add chicken broth.
13. Bring to a boil.
14. Take half a cup of the flour you saved, mix with a half cup of water. Best part? It’s already seasoned!
15. Pour slowly into your reduced sauce until you reach a desired consistency. I used most of it.
16. Add mushrooms, onions and chicken back into the sauce. Stir for a bit.
17. Let simmer on low for 10-15 minutes.

While that’s happening, you should be cooking rice or some pasta to put your chicken marsala on. I made some shells. When done, it should look sorta like this. And plated. The upshot is that you’ll have some good wine to have with your meal. Happy eatings!