Today, after a long day at work, I come home with a craving for one of my favorites, Chicken Marsala. If you don't know what Chicken Marsala is you might want to rush over to your nearest Italian Bistro and check the menu.Its a wonderful dish.
Also for dessert I made some Apple Turn Overs, which came out just right. Topped with a sprinkle of vanilla sugar that melts together to give the top a nice crunchy sweet note.
Anyway on with the recipes!
Chicken Marsala:
NOTE: This is a rough estimate of what I use, this is all eye ball measurements. I always ad-lib it.
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
- 1 boneless chicken breast
- 3-4oz. Marsala Cooking Wine
- Pinch of Salt(preferred sea salt)
- 1 small/med shallot
- 3tbsp butter (can sub some butter for olive oil for flavor)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup mushrooms(whichever you prefer)
- 1tsp honey(optional, thickens and sweetens)
Directions:
You're going to want to start with trimming any fat off the chicken breast, then using a meat tenderizer to pound the breast to a little under 1cm thick(8mm or the width of your pinky). Now place a large sauce pan on the stove over med heat, melt the butter on the pan. Now add the chicken breast. Cook both sides evenly till a meat thermometer reads 170F.
Don't discard your chicken pan just yet, this is a pan sauce. You want to keep all the fats and flavors from the chicken in your dish. So in the same pan you cooked the chicken, add finely diced or minced shallots, press the garlic into the pan, add diced mushrooms, add honey, then pour in marsala. Let reduce on medium till the sauce thickens.
Place your chicken on a plate, then pour the mushrooms and sauce over the top of your chicken.
Serves well over pasta, risotto, greens and potatos, or just by itself.
Apple Turn Overs:
- 1 sheet of puff pastry dough(instructions will be below, or you can buy pre-made)
- 3-4 tart apples
- 1tbsp of spiced rum(optional, for those who got a little captain in them)
- 1tsp of cinnamon
- dash of nutmeg
- 2tbsp of butter
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.
Skin and dice your apples into about 1cm cubes. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat, add rum, add apples. Cook about 2 min, then add brown sugar, stir and cook till rum reduces and the mixture thickens.
Roll your puff pastry out to about 3-4mm thick, put filling in the center and fold in half and seal the edge to make an envelop of pastry filled with apple. Place turn overs on a baking sheet, and put in the oven till the tops get golden brown.
NOTE: You can add vanilla sugar or regular sugar to the top before baking, or add a frosting glaze after baking for extra aesthetics and taste.
Puff Pastry:
ingredients:
- 1cup of butter
- 2 1/2 cups of flour(soft flour works best)
- 1tsp lemon juice(optional, weakens glutens for nicer pastry)
- 1/2 cup of cold water or less
- 1/2tsp sugar
- 1/2tsp salt
Directions:
Mix your flour sugar and salt. Mix your lemon in with your water. Slowly mix water into the flour till the flour is moist enough to hold together but still shaggy. Without working the dough too much for the dough into a ball.
Flatten butter into a disk 1cm thick between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Chill the butter till it gets stiff
Roll the dough out to about 4mm thickness, place butter disk in the center, and fold the dough around the butter. Roll flat again, without letting the butter mix into the dough or poking out of the dough. Chill dough for 5 min, as this prevents the butter from poking through, very important.
Fold the dough twice, one fold overlapping the other(like a brochure), roll flat, chill 5 min. Repeat this 6 times, or however many times your dish requires.
You can freeze this dough and use it later. I like to roll it up with parchment paper and freeze it for whenever I need it.
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