Chicken Marsala

Yes, another pasta and chicken dish...no surprise there, huh? : ) And pasta and chicken with wine nonetheless...how me! Tommy eats this sometimes at our favorite Italian restaurant and I came across a recipe for it on another foodie blog so I thought I would give it a shot.

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 2 but used the same amount of sauce)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

kosher salt (I used regular salt)

ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 slices of bacon or pancetta, chopped

2 cups white or cremini mushrooms

2 large garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tbsp.)

1 tbsp. minced shallot

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 1/2 cups Marsala wine (sweet)

1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1 small lemon)

4 tbsp. unsalted butter cut into 4pieces, room temperature

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place large heatproof dinner plate on oven rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until very hot (you can hold your hand 2 inches above pan surface for 3 to 4 seconds), about 3 minutes. Pat chicken breasts dry. Meanwhile, place flour in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Season both sides of chicken cutlets with salt and pepper; working one piece at a time, coat both sides with flour. Lift breast from tapered end and shake to remove excess flour; set aside.

Add oil to hot skillet and heat until shimmering. Place floured cutlets in single layer in skillet and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip cutlets and cook on second side until golden brown and meat feels firm when pressed with finger, about 3 minutes longer.

Transfer chicken to heated plate and return plate to oven.

2. Return skillet to low heat and add pancetta; saute, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits until pancetta is brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel--lined plate. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high; saute, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and shallot Saute for 1 minute. Add cooked pancetta and tomato paste. Stir while sauteing, until tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute. Off heat, add Marsala; return pan to high heat and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from pan bottom, until sauce is slightly syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. Off heat, add lemon juice and any accumulated juices from chicken; whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

My tips: I will add some cornstarch and cold water next time after the butter to make the sauce a little thicker. I will also use thinner chicken breasts next time (or beat them a little more than I did with the mallet) as they were not finished cooking in the oven on only the 200 degree heat. I had to crank up the oven a bit to get them to cook all the way through.

Pig Rating: He thought this was really good! He agrees that thicker sauce and thinner chicken breasts would make this dish perfect. Definitely a keeper.

Mrs. Pig Rating: I liked this one pretty well. My tips are above but I think those will make this a real winner. It is in my box of things to make again!