Chicken Marsala

Here's an oldie but a goody - straight out of the ol' Better Homes and Gardens classic cook book.  It's long been a favorite at our house.  If you've never tried it, you really must!  I like to serve it over some whole grain angel hair pasta.

INGREDIENTS:

2 chicken breasts, chopped
3 cups sliced portabella mushrooms
1 bunch of green onions, diced
1/2 cup chicken broth (I usually cheat and use a bouillon cube - it still tastes great!)
1/2 cup Marsala wine (I get a cheap bottle of Marsala wine from the regular wine section - Marsala cooking wine is generally more expensive and has added salt, which this dish doesn't need)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

1)  Begin to heat the olive oil and butter in large skillet.

2) Mix together the spices and flour in a bowl.  Dredge the chicken pieces through the flour mixture, shake off the excess, and throw them into the frying pan.

3) After a few minutes of cooking just the chicken, add the mushrooms and onions and continue to saute until the chicken is fully cooked and begins to brown slightly.

4)  Carefully add chicken stock and Marsala wine.  It will look like your dinner is drowning in liquid but keep the heat on medium-high, stir often, and it will reduce.

5) Cook for about another 5-10 minutes, or until the liquid has mostly boiled off, leaving a nice thick sauce.

Chicken Piccata

This dish is a-maz-ing!  Mike raved about it between bites all through dinner, and as soon as we were done, he declared it his new favorite dish!

We actually had chicken piccata for the first time at the food tasting for our wedding, and we liked it so much that we ended up choosing it as our chicken dish to serve at the wedding.  Well, this is the first time I've tried making it myself, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but...TOOT TOOT!  Don't tell our reception venue chef, but mine was WAY better!

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
1 lemon
3/4 cup dry white wine (I ended up using Marsala because I had some in the fridge)
2 tablespoon capers
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
A few sprinkles of pepper and parsley

DIRECTIONS

1) Place chicken breasts between some plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until evenly thick (I always use a regular hammer for this and it works fine).

2) Heat butter and oil in a large skilled.  Dredge chicken in flour, shake off the excess, and place in hot skillet. 

3) Cook until chicken is fully cooked, about 5 minutes per side.

Note: the directions said at this point to take the chicken out of the skillet, set it aside, and then prepare the wine sauce.  I decided to just leave the chicken in the pan while I made the wine sauce, and I think doing it this way, the chicken absorbed the flavor of the sauce and is part of the reason turned out so moist and delicious.  But it's up to you...

4)  Add wine, lemon juice (I reserved two large slices of the lemon for garnish, and juiced the rest), garlic and capers to the skillet.  Keep it at a low boil.  Scrape up bits from the bottom of the pan as it cooks.  Keep cooking until the liquid reduces to a nice thick sauce.

5)  Spoon wine sauce over chicken to serve.  The recipe suggested serving it over pasta - I chose couscous instead.  It was pretty awesome that way, so I'd highly recommend it.

Turtles

In honor of Valentines Day, here's a recipe for some easy homemade candy turtles.  Because nothing says love like a box full of nutty caramel chocolate delights named after everyone's favorite reptile!  So romantic. :)

INGREDIENTS

Big bag of pecans halves
Caramel squares
Chocolate for melting (I usually grab a bag of this stuff at a craft store; I've heard chocolate chips mixed with a little shortening works too, although I've never tried it that way)

DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side up.

2) Arrange 3 pecans with a piece of caramel on top.  The directions said to put them into a Y shape, but I was decided to make triangles instead.  Just 'cause.

3) Bake for about 9-10 minutes until the caramel is melted.
I should mention that I left mine in until they were completely melted, which took about 11-12 minutes.  But the caramel turned out to be kind of hard when they they were done, and I suspect that might be why.  So my advice is to take them out when they're about half melted, just until the caramel starts oozing around the pecans.

4) My pecans had kind of spread out all over the place, so using 2 forks, I kind of shoved them back together.  Then you melt the chocolate in the microwave per the package instructions and spoon over the candies.

5) You can put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool down and set the chocolate.  Although I suggest you wait until they're closer to room temperature to eat so they aren't so hard.

Happy Valentines Day!!!