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Chicken Marsala

Date Night· Dinner· Italian Inspired· One Skillet Meal

Managing a food blog (and yes, I did say managing for those of you who snorted because it has become a rather time consuming hobby) can be very crucial to a happy home. There is a list a few pages, sticky notes and magazines clippings long of recipes I want to try, nibbles and bites that I would love to experiment with and ingredients I would have to do a google search to identify and find. I could fill 3 squares for 365 days plus snacks and desserts, never repeat a recipe once and probably only result in adding even more to the dreaded ‘to make’ list. This seems all fine and dandy for the rest of you food bloggers out there, but for a home, some meals are necessary to please everyone, and as a cook, isn’t that ultimately the goal?

Negotiations must be made, onion portions halved (and even then minced into minute little unrecognizable pieces), and sometimes ingredients neglected to be noted when meals are served. And sometimes, we meals are made just for the other people in mind. A customer of mine at the comic shop asked for a Chicken Marsala recipe for her large family and I was happy to oblige as this would also make our rather tiny household happy.

This creamy, onion free, comforting meal came together quicker than you would think after an exhausting bike ride on a Friday night. I knew if I served it with potatoes we would over indulge, so I served this over a small portion of Spinach-chive linguine from Trader Joes and pretended that it counted for some serving of vegetables. If I had more energy, a small spinach salad would have gone wonderfully with this as well.

 

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

  • 4 6-8oz chicken breasts, boneless skinless, tenderloins removed and trimmed
  • 1 cup flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 1/2 oz pancetta, cut into pieces 1 inch long and 1/8 inch wide
  • 8 oz white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 teas tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 cups sweet Marsala wine
  • 4 1/2 teas lemon juice
  • 4 tbs unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces and chilled
  • 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Halve chicken horizontally, then cover chicken halves with plastic wrap and pound to an even 1/4 inch thickness with meat pounder. Place flour in a shallow dish or pie plate.
  2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Working with 1 cutlet at a time, dredge in four mixture, shaking off excess, and transfer to large plate.
  3. Heat 2 tbs oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place 4 cutlets in skillet and cook until golden brown on first side, about 3 minutes. Flip cutlets, reduce heat to medium, and cook until no longer pink and lightly browned on second side, about 2 minutes longer; transfer to large oven safe plate. Wipe out skillet. Repeat with remaining 2 tbs oil and remaining cutlets. Tent loosely with aluminum foil and transfer to oven to keep warm while making sauce.
  4. Cook pancetta in now-empty skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits, until crisp, about 5 minutes. remove pancetta with slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel lined plate. Add mushrooms to skillet, increase heat to medium-high and cook stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and tomato paste, and crisp pancetta and cook until tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute. Off heat stir in Marsala, scraping any browned bits. Return to high heat, bring to a vigorous simmer, and cook stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened and measures 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and any accumulated chicken juices. Whisk in butter, 1 piece at a time. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

Notes

Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook

© Kita

*I didn’t have pancetta on hand so I substituted bacon for that is always in my fridge.

 

 

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Comments

  3. sigh, it totally is a busy hobby to have..but it’s fun and delicious at the same time 🙂 your chicken marsala looks so good. mine always looks so colorless and sloppy. I need to try this recipe!

    Reply

  6. My to make list grows much faster than the rate I make them. As a result I very rarely make anything twice. If I do, it must be freaking outstanding haha.

    Reply

  12. Great looking chicken Marsala and I can totally relate. Even though he’s a great sport, sometimes I just have to cook a favorite meal for Brian and not worry about photographing it or blogging about it.

    Reply

  13. I’m so making this for din-din! And I’m totally with you about the steps it takes to operate a food blog. The hubby hates it because, like you mentioned, nothing is ever repeated. So when I make this he better enjoy every bite, cuz he’ll never see it again!

    Reply

  14. This looks delicious. I love chicken marsala and have never made it before. It looks like I’ve found a good recipe so I’m going to give it a whirl. Thanks 🙂

    Reply

  16. Pancetta and marsala are not good flavor matches and the lemon juice is an unnecessary acid added, the tomato paste should be plenty.

    Reply

  17. Chicken marsala is always a hit or miss meal when we go out – but it definitely looks like you, my friend, have hit the nail on the head with this one! And PS – I love my Slow Cooker Revolution =)

    Reply

  19. This chicken turned out beautifully – so hearty and rich looking. And the mushrooms look like there were cooked to perfection. Jenn from I’m Cookin in My Kitchen blog recommended this post for a feature in today’s Friday Food Fetish roundup (with a link-back and attribution) – and I completely agree. Please let me know if you have any objections. As always, it’s a pleasure to be following your creations…

    Reply

  21. I have the same problem sometimes. My creative efforts are met with lackluster response from boyfriend. He also refuses to eat seafood and pork… It’s tricky. I think he would like your chicken though!

    Reply

  25. Made this tonight and instead of using 4 chicken breast, used just one large breast, sliced 4 ways and pounded down, dredged in cornstarch instead of flour, substituted turkey bacon for the pancetta, and finally added 1 angel hair pasta nest (50 cal) for each piece of chicken breast to rest upon. Fantastically light dish!

    Reply

  27. I just made this for lunch, OMG it was good. I didnt have Bacon or Panceta so I left that out. Also at the end I wanted more of a thinner sauce so I reduced it with some chicken broth. YUM YUM!!! I’m thinking this is the best Chicken Marsala I’ve ever had, even at a restaurant.

    Reply

  28. I never leave comments…. so this is a special occasion, because this recipe was AMAZING!!! Even my 6,11 and 13 year olds loved it (who don’t like mushrooms). Thanks for posting this! Delicious!!

    Reply

    • Thank you Liz! I am glad to hear everyone liked it. 🙂 (I don’t like mushrooms either, but I made an exception for this dinner too!)

      Reply

  29. You stole this recipe from Americas Test Kitchen recipe book…it’s funny, you can remember this Friday night bike ride but….. Manage a food blog. What’s wrong w people! Right down to the Julie n Julia esque daily recipe blog.

    Reply

    • Funny, you must have missed the link to the book and the credit given to the recipe directly below the title. My mad writing skills must have had you so blown away you simply forgot to check. What’s wrong with people!

      Reply

      • I was interested in your recipe but I’m going to actually follow your blog just because of this reply. Beautiful.

        Reply

  31. I just made this tonight! I substituted the flour for gluten-free flour. I have to say this is one of the best Chicken Marsala recipes I’ve tried! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  33. Delish! Hubby said it was restaurant quality! I substituted bacon for panceta and pinot grigio for the marsala, still yummy. Thank you for posting this 3 and half years ago.

    Reply

  34. I’m going to make on Saturday, what I serve with this main course? Green salad, cheese asparagus and mini cheese cake for desert.
    what do you think. pasta or no? I’m a rice eater being Asian and all. LOL

    Reply

    • I am so sorry for just getting to this Marlene. I was traveling and just got in yesterday. What did you end up serving it with?

      Reply

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  1. […] Managing a food blog (and yes, I did say managing for those of you who snorted because it has become a rather time consuming hobby) can be very crucial to a happy home. There is a list a few pages, sticky notes and magazines clippings long of recipes I want to try, nibbles and bites that I would love to experiment with and ingredients I would have to do a google search to identify and find. I could fill 3 squares for 365 days plus snacks and desserts, never repeat a recipe once and probably only result in adding even more to the dreaded ‘to make’ list. This seems all fine and dandy for the rest of you food bloggers out there, but for a home, some meals are necessary to please everyone, and as a cook, isn’t that ultimately the goal? Chicken Marsala | Pass The Sushi! […]

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