fitfool

Michael cooks an excellent chicken marsala dish. I'll post his recipe though he does so many variations on the theme that it's always a new meal even though we eat this almost every week.

Just a warning...Michael's one of those intuitive cooks so all amounts here are estimates. It does seem to vary each time from when I've watched him so it seems like a really flexible recipe.

Ingredients
* 2 slices medium diced Bacon (preferably slab) or Pancetta
* 8-10 Mushrooms (Crimini and Button seem to work, though Shiitake might be nice) (sliced)
* 1 small Onion (sweet is better, I think) or 2 shallots (Diced)
* 2-3 Tbsp. Butter
* Vegetable or Canola Oil
* 1 Tbsp. Parsley
* Salt, Pepper, Dried Thyme, Basil, Oregano (about 3 shakes of each)
* 1 cup Flour (for dredging)
* Corn Starch & Water (for thickening the sauce) (about 1 Tbsp corn starch mixed in 1 ounce water)
* 2-3 cups Chicken Stock
* 1 cup White Wine or Marsala Wine (or ideally 1 cup of each)
* 1 Tbsp. Mango Chutney (or Apricot Preserves)
* 2 Chicken Breasts (Boneless, Skinless)
* Lemon (just to squeeze some juice on at the end)(optional)

Serve with rice or potatoes.

Directions

Place chicken breasts between wax paper and pound gently to flatten the chicken to uniform thickness so that it cooks evenly.
Chop 2 or 3 pieces of bacon up in rough dice or as best you can and set aside. Use about a third of the chopped bacon to sauté the mushrooms and onion and the rest to sauté the chicken. You can use less if you don't want that much bacon, though the flavor will come through as an undercurrent, in case you're wondering. The trick with the bacon is to cook it enough so that it's not still white but not so much that it burns. I usually discard some of the pieces I cook with the chicken, as they do sometimes get away from me and overcook. Also, I'll use a small piece of butter here (1 tsp?) to saute with the mushrooms, onions, and bacon.

Ideally, I suppose, you'd leave them with the first stage (when you sauté the mushrooms and onion) and remove them before the chicken finishes cooking. I'll refer to it later.
Sauté the sliced mushrooms, diced onions, and one third of the chopped bacon in a pan.
Mix the seasonings and the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge the flattened chicken breasts through the flour.
Brown the flattened chicken breast with the rest of the bacon mixture and maybe a Tbsp of butter.
In a cup, mix 1 to 2 heaping teaspoons of corn starch with some water (about 6 to 8 ounces) to make a cloudy suspension. Mix with a fork long enough so that no lumps of corn starch remain (takes about 30 seconds).
Set the chicken aside and deglaze the pan with the white wine or marsala wine or even both. Ideally, I like to first deglaze with 1 cup of white wine and once that's reduced a bit, I'll add the marsala wine and let that reduce too.
Now start throwing everything else for the sauce in. Bring in the chicken stock, chutney or preserves, and the previously sauteed mushrooms, onions, and bacon. For stock, you'll need about 2 cups but if you're not getting enough sauce, it's nice to have a 3rd cup of stock on hand to help increase the yield. Also add in that corn starch mixture to thicken the sauce.
Slide the chicken breasts back in and simmer until heated through.
If desired, squeeze a little lemon juice on just before serving.