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Make Ahead

Chicken marsala

by:
April 24, 2011
5
4 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Every serious cook has a dish that they can cook without thinking or effort. It's the meal that you want to define you, and one that continually delights everyone for whom you cook. In my case, it's chicken marsala.

Occasionally, I experiment with the recipe. I've gone with mustard and marscapone. I've tried grilling the chicken. The former is nice, but really rich. The latter...not as much. The sauce needs to pick up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan for optimal flavor. You want things to meld together so it tastes like it was cooked together and not just a sauce you poured over the top. Harmony is a beautiful thing and you don't achieve it when you cook the meat and sauce separately (Think about serving a roast beef with fresh-from-the-packet McCormick's Beef Gravy.). —jaredpaventi

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Ingredients
  • Pan searing flour
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose white flour
  • 1/4 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • The entree
  • 1/4 cup pan searing flour
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 teaspoon herbes de provence
  • 12 ounces assorted fresh mushrooms (white, crimini, shitake, etc.), chopped and stemed
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 2/3 cup dry marsala
  • 1/3 cup dry sherry
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions
  1. Pound chicken to 1/4-inch thick. Dredge chicken in pan searing flour and add to heavy, deep skillet preheated on high. Brown chicken on both sides, 3-4 minutes, and remove.
  2. Add shallots and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes. Add wine and herbes. Cook to deglaze, scraping up brown bits at bottom of pan.
  3. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Return chicken to pan and cook until sauce is thick, about 10 minutes.
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11 Reviews

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Jeanne May 31, 2020
This is a delicious recipe. We really enjoyed it.
Chloroph April 6, 2015
Love this recipe. Although I do agree with the comments that it needs editing the ingredients list includes olive oil bit the instructions don't tell you how to use it. I added it to the pan for searing the chicken. Then, I added some more. I also agree that more wine and sherry are good. Specially the sherry at the end. Very good. Yum.
Sarah B. January 21, 2014
Well I hope jaredpaventi won the "recipe I most want to be remembered for, because I was asked to find a recipe for chicken marsala, and this looks so good I'm trying it tonight. I think Food52 does a darn good job of vetting their recipes, and this writing doesn't seem too daunting to me.
pimimond January 28, 2012
One other thing: I would tell the reader to halve the boneless breasts horizontally, then pound them into 1/4" thick cutlets. Otherwise you got a whole lot of pounding and a big unwieldy cutlet. I would also add more wine for more sauce, which is delicious. Bottom line: this is a poorly-written but basically good and simple recipe, but not for someone who does not know what they are doing.
pimimond January 27, 2012
I have a bone to pick with this poorly-written recipe. First you tell us the "pan-searing flour" recipe, then you tell us to use 1/4 cup of it in the "entree." This is confusing. I dredged the chicken in this combination of flour, pepper and salt, and luckily I used my own intuition and seared the chicken in a frying pan that already had olive oil in it, because this is not indicated either. What I was supposed to do with that 1/4 cup of pan searing flour I don't know, but I removed the seared chicken and followed the rest of the recipe, more or less, though I did add more marsala to get more sauce. It's not that the recipe is bad, it's just that it's badly written, and I'm surprised that the folks running this website didn't pick that up.
Jdtirado December 1, 2012
I have to agree with this comment. I am making this tonight and as a new cook find it confusing. Hopefully all will turn out ok.
jaredpaventi December 1, 2012
Fair enough. I make the flour in bulk and forgot to mention that you should reserve the rest. The flour part was edited to make enough for just this recipe.
kasia S. February 28, 2014
I agree, making a new dish can be intimidating enough, worrying about the recipe you're using because it's not clear is just too much on top, which makes me skip it and look for another. I don't want to waste all the shopping and cooking if the recipe itself isn't ready for me.
AntoniaJames April 27, 2011
This looks so delicious -- especially the dry marsala + dry sherry, combined with mushrooms. Wow. I don't have "herbes de provence." What would you recommend instead? (I have just about everything else, either fresh or dried.) Also, with what would you serve this? Thank you. ;o)
jaredpaventi April 30, 2011
Antonia: I've actually made my own herb blend and posted the recipe to my blog...http://a1dente.wordpress.com/2011/02/05/myo-herbes-de-provence/
Pamela's K. April 24, 2011
This dish will definately be taking over my kitchen soon! Anything with that variety of mushrooms MUST be delicious!