Chicken Marsala & Sauteed Greens

As promised, here are the results from our awesome impromptu chicken dinner last night. The Chicken Marsala Recipe was inspired by an Emeril Lagasse recipe found on www.foodnetwork.com. For the full recipe please visit their website but we recommend you follow the additional tips/revisions below.

Start with two large chicken breasts. Place between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until chicken is an even 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick through out. Then cut each breast in half so that you now have four servings. Pounding the chicken to a thinner thickness will allow it to cook faster and ensure even cooking throughout. We do this whenever we cook chicken on the stove top as it's very difficult to get the thicker breasts to cook all the way through to the center without overcooking the outside leaving it tough and dry. This way the meat cooks quickly all the way through and stays nice and moist. Another thing we do is pat the meat dry with Paper Towels before cooking it. Getting rid of the excess moisture will help it to brown properly and give you that really nice carmelization with lots of flavor that you are looking for.

For the rub, Don did not read the proportions correctly so we had extra spice to flour mixture ratio, but we loved it. Overall, if we were to make again we suggest the following recipe for the seasoning dredge. Sorry Emeril, but ours is better!

1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1/2 Tablespoon Black Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1/2 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
1/2 Tablespoon Dried Thyme

After dredging in flour mixture, brown the chicken for about three minutes on both sides. The Paprika and Cayenne Pepper seasonings will give it a gorgeous red and brown coloring. Remove chicken from heat, then in the same pan, saute sliced mushrooms until golden brown, add Marsala Wine, Butter, Chicken Stock, Salt and Pepper and cook until sauce is reduced by about half. Add the chicken back to the broth and continue to cook until meat is cooked through and sauce has thickened. Service chicken drizzled in mushroom sauce.

This recipe goes extremely well with sauteed greens. We had a mixed bag of greens leftover from our Dandelion Organic Produced delivery to inspire this quick recipe.

Sauteed Greens with Red Bell Pepper

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Yellow Onion Diced
1/2 Red Bell Pepper Diced
2 Large cloves of Garlic, Minced
5 Cups Mixed Dark Greens such as Kale
2/3 Cup Homemade Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. Begin by sauteeing onion and and bell pepper in olive oil for about 5 minutes until softened. Add Garlic and stir fry another 60 seconds stirring constantly so that garlic does not burn. Add Greens and stock and toss gently. Cover and cook for five minutes stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain excess liquid and serve immediately.