Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Missing a key ingredient
--Chicken Marsala



Chicken Marsala
Betty Crocker’s Best Chicken Cookbook Copyright 1999

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts halves (about 1 ¼ pounds)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes I used dried
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
½ cup dry Marsala wine or chicken broth I used chicken broth

Flatten each chicken breast half to ¼-inch thickness between plastic wrap or waxed paper. Mix flour, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture; shake off excess flour. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook garlic and parsley in oil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chicken and brown each side. Add mushrooms and wine. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Serve with hot cooked pasta if desired.
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I rarely screw up in this manner, but I when I went to grab some Marsala for this recipe, I couldn't find any. The recipe did say chicken broth could be used but then this really isn't Chicken Marsala is it? It's Chicken Chicken Broth.

The recipe seemed a bit screwy to me - I would have sautéed the mushrooms in the oil (adding them with the liquid leaves you with boiled mushrooms). I would have added the garlic to the mushrooms (I couldn't brown the chicken as much as I would have like to because the garlic would have burned since it was added first). Because the mushrooms took longer to cook in the liquid than the chicken needed to finish off, the chicken ended up overcooked. Usually chicken and vegetables are cooked separately in dishes like this, then put together with the liquid to finish off.

As it was, the light sauce was good over some Dreamfield spaghetti - nothing spectacular but perfectly fine. The chicken itself didn't have much flavor.

This was the first recipe I tried from this cookbook. I had high hopes for it but so far, not so good.

Blast From The Past: Chicken Marsala from October 2005, from The New Best Recipe. That was excellent but I was hoping to find a less complicated recipe.

Question of the Day: What was the last disappointing dish that you prepared?

3 comments:

DancesInGarden said...

A creamy pasta bake from Cooking Light magazine. Bought pancetta special and everything, and followed the recipe (that in itself almost killed me). It was bland, and dry. Maybe with twice the sauce and four times the cheese, but then it wouldn't be a light recipe, right? I ended up throwing out about 2/3's of it.

Randi said...

A pizza I made last night, I have to write it up, but I was really dissapointed.

Anonymous said...

My favorite Chicken Marsala recipe is the one you did before, from The New Best Recipe...I've never bothered to try any other recipe for it!