Fortified wine from Sicily leads to easy, delicious Chicken Marsala (recipe)

Since the pandemic began and staying at home became the norm, my adventures have not been around the world but in the kitchen. But I’ve tried to incorporate places I’ve been and places I’d like to go with ingredients from afar.

And, like most of us, I get bored with the same old, same old, so I seek to develop recipes original to my kitchen. Since my taste buds were compromised with sessions of radiation therapy for larynx cancer, I’ve relied on my supertaster husband to help me as I work to regain my own taste.

Hundreds of cookbooks in my collection and decades of saved Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines serve to inspire me as I adapt and change recipes devised by others to suit our needs. When they are a success, which is not always the case, I often will photograph the results and share them here.

A Christmas gift bottle of Marsala wine inspired the most recent success, a Chicken Marsala recipe I’m giving you today. Marsala is a fortified wine imported from Sicily, the island just beyond the toe of Italy — and one of my favorite places to go. To inspire my dreams when I’m about to fall asleep, I recall the details of a perfect day spent exploring the mountainside village of Taormina, founded by Greeks in the sixth century B.C.

Fortified wines, like Marsala but including port, vermouth and sherry, are fortified by the addition of brandy to increase their alcohol content.

My research revealed that my Marsala was a dry wine ranked as Superiore, which means it’s been aged at least two years in wood and is at least 18 percent alcohol. The label on my bottle indicated it had been aged in oak for 30 months. Typically served as an aperitif, Marsala has a smoky, rather nutlike taste with notes of licorice.

I was surprised to find that published recipes for Chicken Marsala vary quite a bit, so in developing my own I left out some things and added others. I used heavy cream in the recipe I created, but some versions use low-fat chicken broth from a can instead. I also used garlic, which many recipes omit, because I love it. And I used herbes de Provence in the flour for dredging instead of the oregano called for in some recipes.

Next time I make it I will use the Instant Pot I got for Christmas because I am still learning how to incorporate it into my kitchen routine. But the recipe I created is so quick and easy, I doubt the Instant Pot will save much in the way of time.

I’m in search of other recipes using Marsala as an ingredient because I was smitten with the deep and smoky flavors it added to a dish built around otherwise plain and ordinary boneless, skinless chicken breasts. But that chicken, which can be used in dozens of creations, often can be found on sale, so it makes sense to stock up when it’s inexpensive. That tends to make up for the cost of the Marsala, which is about $15 per bottle.

If you have a recipe using Marsala that you are willing to share, please email it to me at JPodolak (at) News-Herald.com.

 

Janet’s Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence (mix of basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage)

2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

½ cup Marsala wine

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup cleaned and sliced Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed

4 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons flat parsley, chopped for garnish

Instructions

Pound chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap to a one-fourth-inch consistent thickness.

Lightly salt.

Melt butter over low heat in a large saute pan.

Lightly dredge flattened, lightly salted chicken breasts in flour mixed with herbes de Provence.

Increase pan heat to medium and brown chicken breasts 3 minutes on each side a few at a time, making sure not to crowd them.

Remove browned breasts to a heated platter, tent with foil and place in a 200-degree oven to keep warm. Do not overcook.

Add garlic to the pan and quickly cook for 1 minute.

Scoop out garlic and sprinkle over tented chicken breasts.

Deglaze pan by adding Marsala and stirring to loosen brown bits on the bottom.

Add cream and stir for 10 minutes over medium to reduce and thicken.

Return chicken with garlic to the pan.

Add mushrooms and thinly sliced pieces of prosciutto.

Taste to learn if more salt and pepper is needed.

Plate and sprinkle with chopped flat parsley.