Chicken Marsala

This is one of my favorite chicken dishes, and one I make often, it seems we never tire of it. It’s quick enough to whip up on a weeknight, and always a hit when served to dinner guests. So if you need a dish that looks like you've been slaving in a hot kitchen all afternoon, give this a try-- it's just wonderful.

The best part for me is the mushrooms - they absorb all the flavor from the marsala wine and delicately rich sauce. I served this with Jamie Oliver's recipe for chilled roasted vegetable farro salad. The salad was very flavorful, but I couldn't get past the coldness - so I warmed it up a bit before serving.

If you don't have any Marsala wine on hand, and need to pick some up, just be certain of two things -- You don’t need anything too expensive, and make sure it’s just regular dry Marsala wine, and not Sweet Marsala, a desert wine, and too sweet for this dish. This same recipe can also be made the with veal cutlets with very nice results.



Chicken Marsala

1/4 cup flour
4 boned & skinless chicken breast, pounded flat-- cut into medalians
sea salt and white pepper
1 TBLS butter
2 TBLS olive oil
2 oz of dry Marsala wine
3/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup chicken stock
juice of half a fresh lemon
1 TBLS fresh parsley, minced

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge the chicken medalians with seasoned flour. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium size skillet. Place the chicken pieces in the pan and brown on both sides. Once browned remove from pan and set aside.

Add the Marsala wine to your pan and gently bring it to a boil. Add the chicken broth, lemon juice and stir in the sliced mushrooms. Lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes reducing the sauce. Return the cooked chicken medalians to the pan and spoon over the Marsala sauce. Cook for five minutes more on each side until warmed through. Sprinkle on some fresh parsley and serve with roasted vegetable farro salad or over linguini or pasta of choice Enjoy!

Tikka Masala

With the warmer days, the kickoff of grilling season begins again. So over the gorgeous Memorial Day weekend I made this meal.. tikka masala. Chicken Tikka Masala is a delicious dish which pre-marinated pieces of chicken are grilled and then added to a thick creamy gravy. The result is a lovely warm and smokey flavor. I served it over a bed of jasmine rice as I was all out of basmati, plenty of chopped cilantro along with triangles of syrian bread. If you grill as much as we do here, this is a very easy recipe that may be may ahead. Don't omit the marinade sauce..it really adds a lot to this warming dish. I originally had this dish at a friends barbecue, where she served shrimp instead of chicken. Both are equally delicious in this wonderful sauce mixture.

Prepare the chicken

3 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp sea salt

Sprinkle seasonings over chicken breasts--cover in wrap & refrigerate 30 minutes.

Dip/Marinade

1 cup whole yogurt
1 TBLS fresh ginger, diced fine
2 TBLS garlic cloves, minced
2 TBLS vegetable oil

Mix well and set aside until chicken is ready to be cooked. Once readied, dip chicken breasts into yogurt mixture. Once coated, toss them on the grill, basting each side until chicken is cooked and sauce mixture is gone. Allow chicken to rest once grilled and slice into 1 inch slices and then turn and cube into 1 inch pieces.
Set aside and prepare the masala sauce.

Prepare Masala Sauce


3 TBLS vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and diced fine
1 TBLS tomato paste
1 TBLS Garam Masala -*an Indian warm mixture of spices
1 cerano chili-minced

Saute onion, garlic and ginger in vegetable oil for 7 minutes. Add tomato paste, garam masala & chili and cook 4-5 minutes longer.
Then add:
28 oz crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Cover and continue cooking another five minutes or so. Lower the heat and stir into the red sauce 2/3 cup light cream. Once blended in, add the cooked,cubed chicken pieces just long enough to blend in. No need to cook any longer. Add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and serve over warm rice. Enjoy!