Chicken Marsala

I posted Giada's Mustard Mascarpone Chicken Marsala recipe a while back. The recipe below is the way I learned how to make chicken marsala at Johnson & Wales. The class included dishes such as veal picatta and veal francese. These dishes are all very similar. You take a piece of meat, pound it a little to make it even so that it will cook evenly, lightly dredge it in seasoned flour, shallow fry and make a quick pan sauce using some sort of wine.

Ingredients:
5 slices bacon, diced
½ cup seasoned flour (flour seasoned with salt and pepper, to taste)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4-6 tablespoons butter
1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ cup Florio brand marsala wine
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup half and half
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a shallow bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and pepper.

In a large skillet, render the bacon over medium heat, stirring often, until crispy. Transfer bacon pieces to plate. Do not pour out rendered bacon fat.

Turn the heat under the skillet to medium-high. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter.

Dredge chicken breast in seasoned flour. Working in batches, fry the chicken breast until golden. (You may need to add more butter between batches.) Transfer breasts to ovenproof dish and arrange in a single layer. (A rectangular baking dish works well.)

Place dish in oven to finish. (This is a method we used a lot in school. Burner space was always premium so most of the time we partially cooked our food and place them directly in the oven to finish. This method also produces better results.)

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until the liquid from mushrooms evaporates.

Add the bacon to the pan and cook until crispy.

Add the wine, bring the liquid to a boil and reduce by half. Add the chicken broth and return to a boil. Lower heat, add half and half. Adjust seasonings, turn off heat and add parsley.

Remove chicken from oven. To serve, arrange one or two breasts on a plate and nappe with mushroom sauce.

The bf LOVES chicken marsala and I always try to make it a little different each time. I ask him which version he prefers and he said that they are all very good. This version tastes slightly lighter than Giada's mascarpone version. I said slightly because this version relies on the flavor from bacon and bacon fat while the mascarpone version uses olive oil.

He seems to like it with simple creamy mashed potatoes and a vegetable. This time I decided on broccoli.