Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms - A classic!

You’ve got to love the classics – Books, movies, cars, and of course FOOD!  And Chicken Marsala is one of my favorite classic dishes.  It’s easy, quick and uses just a few ingredients; chicken, shallots, mushrooms, stock and Marsala wine.  Now if you don’t have a bottle of Marsala hanging around waiting to be turned into a sauce, try Madeira wine.  If you don’t have a bottle of Madeira from your last trip to Portugal in the wine closet then try using Sherry.  But if you just had Dr.’s Frasier and Niles Crane over and they drank your last drop, then from what I gather you can mix white wine and brandy for a similar-ish taste since Marsala is a fortified wine anyway (that means a spirit, like brandy, has been added to the wine).  I guess what I’m trying to say; not only is this dish quick and easy but also versatile and forgiving if the bottle you have on hand isn’t Marsala. 

And that brings me to my other point about versatility...I pulled this recipe out of the archives after Mr. Crown and Ginger (that’s my I’m too old to call him a boyfriend boyfriend) had an amazing grilled trout with a Marsala sauce the other evening at Charlies Etoille Verte (here on the Island and one of our favorites).  Now I would have never put Marsala and fish in the same sentence before, I guess since I’ve always reserved it for a classic scaloppini (chicken, veal or pork) dish.  Plus, I don’t have many fish dishes on this site (trying to improve that, in fact, also trying to improve my posting frequency – I’ve been a slacker).  But like I said, it did get me thinking of the classic dishes in that “go to” category, adaptable, straightforward and deserving of a re-visit on a regular basis.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts pounded to about a ¼ inch thick

All purpose flour

5 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

3 cups thinly slice mushrooms

¾ cup Marsala wine

1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper then dredge both sides in flour. 

Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  When butter begins to foam, working in batches, cook chicken until golden brown on one side about 3 minutes.  Continue cooking the other side for another 2 minutes.  Add more oil if necessary.  Remove breasts and set aside. 

Drain fat from skillet and return to medium heat.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in skillet then add shallots.  Cook until they soften, about 3 minutes.  Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until they brown.  Pour Marsala wine over mushrooms and continue cooking until wine turns slightly syrupy.  Add remaining butter and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper.  Boil until sauce is reduced by half.  Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan.  Continue cooking until sauce thickens and chicken is heated through, turning occasionally to coat in sauce.  Add parsley and serve spooning sauce over each serving.  

Paella with Chicken, Shrimp and Clams

 

This was one of the best and most flavorful Paella’s I have ever made and dare I say – had!  Instead of kind of just throwing it all in, I followed a lead from two of my favorite guys in the cooking realm – Gordon Ramsey and Tyler Florence – I know I know, how could two total opposites have a common thread that I could find attractive in both and then mold and manipulate into the perfect man...I mean Paella.  I took Gordon’s robustness flavor, teamed it with Tyler’s ease and confidence wielding style in the kitchen and voila!  A pretty much perfect man...I mean Paella.  Please look at the notes below, this is not hard by any means, but depending on your tastes and pan size this could be a little on the fiddly side...like most men.  

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

8 boneless chicken thighs, seasoned with dry rub below

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced on the diagonal (about 8oz each)

1 Spanish onion, medium chop

8 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and minced

½ bunch of flat-leaf parsley leaves (or a good handful) chopped

½ bunch of cilantro (or a good handful) chopped

A good splash of sherry or dry white wine, about ¼ cup (not really optional)

1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, crushed and smashed

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

4 cups chicken stock plus a little more if needed

Saffron threads, a large sized pinch dissolved in a little chicken stock

1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 pound fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined – tails left on

1/2 cup frozen petite peas, thawed

Lemon wedges, for serving

Dry rub for chicken:  Oregano, paprika & garlic powder

Sprinkle oregano, paprika & garlic powder generously over chicken, coating both sides and rubbing into skin and meat.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Heat oil in the paella pan over medium heat. Sauté the chorizo until browned, remove and set aside. Add chicken pieces and brown until golden on both sides and almost cooked through, remove, and set a side with chorizo.

Add onions, garlic, parsley, and cilantro to pan, cook for 2 or 3 minutes over medium heat. Then, add rice and splash of sherry.  Stir to coat the rice and cook until it begins to crackle.  Add tomatoes and stir to combine all the ingredients, cook for a few minutes more until the liquid thickens slightly. 

Pour in stock; stir so the rice absorbs the liquid evenly.  Add saffron and stir to break up threads.  Add chicken, chorizo along with all accumulated juices back to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the clams tucking them into the rice and more stock if necessary.  At this point, you may have to remove the chicken pieces, cover, and keep warm depending on the size of your pan.  When the clams begin to open, add the shrimp.  Continue to simmer, adding more stock if needed.  The shrimp should take about 8 minutes to cook.  Carefully stir paella to distribute liquid.  When the shrimp are pink and cooked and the clams opened, remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with peas and lemon wedges.

It’s All Delicious Notes:  A few suggestions – a 15” Paella pan was not large enough for all this – men and their measurements!  So, I removed the chicken thighs and kept them warm while the shellfish were cooking.  I added ever so little additions of stock to keep the Paella nice and moist.  I also used a mixture of hot and mild chorizo sausage, cutting them in two different ways, so those who like their chorizo hot, knew exactly which sausage would suit their tastes.  Obviously, there’s nothing saying that you couldn’t make two different Paella’s – one all seafood the other all meat – after all it’s nice to have choices in and out of the kitchen!

Grilled Chicken "Piri-Piri"

 Piri-piri  reminds me of summer, grilling on the beach and Portugal.  Here’s my version using the traditional ingredients with the addition of a little sugar as I can’t get away from the sweet hot combo that I love!  This is a great marinade for grilled chicken or fish.  It’s also perfect as a spicy side sauce.   

“Piri-Piri” marinade

Ingredients

Makes about 4 cups

1 cup lemon juice

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

10 garlic cloves smashed and peeled

3 dried mild chilies

5 dried hot chilies

2 tablespoons oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

3 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional)

Soak chilies in hot water until soft, about 20 minutes then roughly chop including the seeds.  Heat all ingredients over a low heat in a medium saucepan until just simmering.  Cool and process mixture in the bowl of a food processor until smooth.  Marinate chicken for 24hours in the fridge then grill. 

Jo's Curry

This is the very first curry recipe I was given in London.  It was given to me by my friend Debbie, who was given it by her friend Jo.  This basic curry is an original recipe from Jo’s cook, who was a former Gurkha from Nepal.  What I like about this is it’s simplicity for first time curry tasters.  It’s grounded with enough flavor as an introduction which after time can be adapted to suit anyone’s personal tastes and preferences.

Serves 4

Ingredients

 4 chicken breasts cut in strips

1 large onion chopped, finely

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chili flakes

1 piece of ginger, minced

2-3 tablespoons curry powder

1 28oz can chopped tomatoes

Fry onions in oil until soft.  Add garlic, ginger and chili flakes continue cooking for

another 3 minutes.  Add chicken stir to coat.  Cook until just opaque.  Add tomatoes and

 continue simmering until chicken is cooked through.  Serve with steamed rice, naan bread, and raita

 

Oriental Chicken Salad

What’s nice about this....wait for it...is the chicken! Okay that was a weak attempt at a joke given my time off (which I will explain tomorrow and over abundance of chicken dishes on this site).  No, the nice thing is the crunch and flavor this dish has.  You can serve it warm right from the wok, room temp or cold.  It’s a great dish for the summer (whoops...that seems to be over too!).

1 ½ lbs chicken tenders

¼ cup soy sauce

½ cup Mirin (rice wine)

2 teaspoons garlic puree*

2 teaspoons ginger puree*

8 oz shredded carrots

8 oz bean sprouts

¼  cup spring onions, white and light green parts only (about 1 bunch)

¼ lb snow peas, trimmed and sliced

2 teaspoons Ponzo dressing

Sesame oil for stir frying

Fried eggroll skins (optional)

 Whisk soy sauce and mirin together in a glass dish, add chicken tenders and marinate at least ½ hour. 

Heat wok then add oil.  When hot, add ginger and garlic puree and stir to prevent sticking and burning.  Add chicken with ½ the marinade, cook until the chicken begins to carmalize and brown.  Add carrots, bean sprouts, spring onions and snow peas.  Continue cooking until the snow peas turn a bright green, about 3-5 minutes.  Pour over the Ponzo dressing and serve warm or at room temperature on top of fried eggroll skins. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu - A Step Back In Time

I went all retro in the kitchen the other night.  I hadn’t made Chicken Cordon Bleu in years (and I mean years – probably about 15).  It’s one of those recipes I just forgot about.  Plus while I love deep fried foods, I don’t love what the smell does to my house.  Nothing worse than waking up the next day to that awful oil smell that lingers everywhere...Yuk!

So, I updated this old icon a bit.  I cooked the breasts in the oven and used flavored panko breadcrumbs.  It’s a nice dish and easy to serve since you are making individual portions.  You could also serve them cold and sliced.  Sometimes it’s nice to take a step back in time. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, pounded to ¼ inch thick

4 ham slices

4 Swiss cheese slices

1-2 cups panko bread crumbs or as needed for breading

1 egg, beaten

1 cup of flour or as needed for breading

Salt and pepper

Dried parsley

Canola oil

Season flattened breasts with salt, pepper and parsley. 

Place one slice of ham on each breast then one slice of cheese.  If necessary cut the ham and cheese in half to fit onto each breast. 

This part can be a bit fiddly.  Fold in the sides of each breast, and then roll up from the smaller side.  If needed secure the “seam” with a toothpick (but warn everyone!)

Bread each portion using the standard method of flour, egg then breadcrumbs.

Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, up to an hour or so.  Pour 4 tablespoons of oil in an oven proof baking dish (not glass) just large enough to hold the chicken.  Bake in a 425°F preheated oven for 25-30 minutes turning them over mid way through cooking.  Serve with lemon wedges.