Make something Saturday: For your dinner delight

My husband says he could eat chicken five days a week, but I like variety and hunt for new ways to fix it. Is there any more versatile meat available to us? I think he would be happy to just rotate between fried, roasted, and barbecued, but I love it in chicken salad, soup (I have a great Brunswick Stew recipe I’ll share sometime), white chili that my son-in-law introduced to us, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, fajitas, chicken alfredo, a chicken/cheese/broccoli casserole, paella (with more chicken than seafood in it for my tastes), curry, chicken & rice endless variations, … shall I go on?

Huffpost says we in North America (technically they said “America” but perhaps it is true north of the border too?) “buy chicken more than any other food” and that has only increased as fewer of us eat as much red meat.

I confess I’m not as versatile or experienced of cook as I’d like to be (happens when you try to keep harmony in a family who would sooner eat the same old stuff than branch out very much) so when I saw, in the spice aisle, a “Recipe Inspirations” gimmick with pre-measured spices and recipe card for Chicken Marsala I thought it was actually an Indian dish, a variation of a curry. (Obviously didn’t check the ingredients too thoroughly: no curry, and the Marsala, I learned comes from the Italian wine you add (I used an Italian cooking wine.)

But it was delish just the same and you probably have all of the ingredients in your cupboard already, except maybe the Marsala, and yes, you can substitute any other cooking wine (or sherry I suppose) but as one picky person online pointed out, then it isn’t really chicken Marsala. But, I’m a substituter so, who really cares about that? When you live eight miles from town, you make do. But if you haven’t gotten your groceries yet, you may want to try this for a fairly quick and easy Saturday night or Sunday dinner. Monday is good too! I’ve added some variations from the card.

Oh. The husband? He pronounced it “not bad.” That’s a score.

What is your favorite way (or newest favorite) to make chicken?

Chicken Marsala (adapted from McCormick Recipe Inspirations card) Prep time 10 minutes; cook time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients

1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
6 thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts (I took tenders and cross sliced them to about 3/8 inch thick)
3 tb. butter, divided
2 tb. olive oil
2 or 3 large sliced mushrooms
½ c. chicken broth
¾ cup Marsala cooking wine
1 tsp. minced garlic (or one clove minced and sautéed)
1 tsp. marjoram leaves
1 tsp. minced onions
½ tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. basil
3/4 tsp. parsley flakes (fresh or dried, optional)

1. Mix flour, marjoram, minced (dry) onions, salt and pepper in shallow dish. Keep 1 tb. of the flour mixture back for later. Coat chicken with remaining flour mixture.
2. Heat 2 tb. of the butter and oil in large nonstick skillet on medium high heat. Sauté minced garlic. Cook chicken pieces about 4-5 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from skillet. Keep warm. Add mushrooms to skillet; brown and stir 5 minutes until tender.
3. Mix broth and reserved flour mixture in small shaker (the sauce ends up being pretty thin; if you like it thicker, add more flour). Add to skillet, stir; also add wine. Bring to boil, stir so that brown bits of floury chicken coating are mixed in, like you’re making gravy. Stir in remaining 1 tbsp butter and basil. Cook 2 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken to serve. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

Slice breast pieces very thin to cook faster.

Dredge chicken pieces through flour and spice mixture.

Saute 5-6 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Remove chicken or move to one side and saute mushrooms.

Add flour and broth mixture you have shaken, and bring to a boil.

Enjoy: rice or pasta make a nice side, missing here! We actually had leftover fried potatoes with it.