Two recipes for chicken marsala from two dads
The better marsala attempt.
Do you ever, when something goes entirely awry, literally imagine turning back time? In my brain, the recording of the moment that Things Went Wrong peels back like a VHS tape, the sound of it rewinding squeaking through my brain, until I can get to the place where I did not actually decide to take a full wine bottle and use it to pound a bone-in pork chop, leading to the nice vino vessel shattering and the wine going everywhere, which means all over the pork and also the floor and everything else.
The act is, I’m bad at pounding meat, which is what led me to the Great Pork Disaster of 201[?]. It just never goes quite right, which I why I often buy “thin” chicken cutlets aka pre-pounded. And if you were wondering how any of this matters, this is a story about making chicken marsala twice, and the reason the first time went wrong was not because of pounding chicken, if you can even believe that, but because of three other reasons I didn’t even see coming.
Speaking of turning back time, let’s start at the beginning: Several weeks ago, I stopped by my friend Jia’s house for an outdoor hang and was delighted to be handed not only a pre dinner salad snack, but also a taste of the dinner she was about to consume, prepared ever-so-delightfully by her father, who was the chef-in-residence. The dinner in question was of course chicken marsala, and I feel confident in saying that even if he warned that it was too salty, it was the best chicken marsala of my life. Buoyed by the turning leaves and this flavor that was now coursing through my personal leaves, I vowed to make it myself, and soon.
What incredible luck then, when I realized there was a veal/chicken marsala recipe in Fave Recipes. What a delightful edition of the newsletter, I thought to myself. A dad recipe begets a dad recipe—this is the stuff blogs are made of!
Well, here’s how it actually went: I did not break a wine bottle but I did needlessly go to the grocery store to buy more (definitely mediocre) marsala even though we already had some, use sad looking mushrooms and no parsley, and pour in too much beef broth so the whole chicken dish tasted of beef, not marsala. It dawned on me far too late that all this went wrong because the ingredients were really for veal marsala and I should have subbed in chicken broth if I decided to go in the poultry direction. (There were also issues with how many servings the meal was intended for, and a possible underuse of butter, among other moments I’ve put to bed because the replay is too cruel.)
I also got a helpful lesson the difference between broths and stocks—according to the great website foodsguy.com, beef broth, stock, and consommé are all slightly different—but of course I was probably using the wrong meat flavoring to begin with so it didn't help things in the end.
The dinner turned out fine, if hideous—here is a photo of it for posterity, but it basically tasted like chicken in beef, and might be the worst thing I’ve made for this newsletter since some other moment I’ve purposefully forgotten.
Armed with my frustration, I resolved to go straight to the source to recreate my cravings: Jia’s dad, aka Noel, who kindly sent it along with the note “For our Titanic resident expert. The recipe is attached below. Send my love.. -dad.” I simply love to be googled, and also to be gifted recipes which I must then master. Here is the latter; I suggest reading it carefully for optimum sensory pleasure:
Chicken Marsala by Katie
50 min
Prep:
2 lbs boneless Chicken Breasts. 1 cup flour. 1 Tbsp salt. 1/2 Tbsp ground pepper
Cut Chicken Breasts in 1/3 sections horizontally. Pound each filet with the spiked part of a kitchen hammer until each is 1/4 inch in thickness.
Place the flour, salt and pepper in a large Ziplock bag, then add chicken filets to the bag. Shake the bag as you dance to the tune, “Shake Your Booty” by KC and the Sunshine Band.
Miso On Plas:
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 – 5 Tbsp of unsalted butter, delivered to frying pan in 1 Tbsp increments as needed.
1 lb. Bella mushroom, pre-sliced. Try not to use the regular white button mushrooms; shitake would be best.
1 head of garlic, minced (or more. No such thing as too much garlic, except for vamps.)
One bundle green onion, chopped in one-inch sections
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half and half cream. (the option is to use heavy cream if you prefer a creamier sauce.)
1 cup dry Marsala Wine. (there is an option to add 1 Tbsp of brandy.. If you are pairing with brandy.)
1/4 cup mixed parsley and thyme
Game Time
Fry the cutlets until crispy. (Near the end, make sure the frying pan doesn’t get dry by adding increments of 1 Tbsp of butter on to the pan.) Put aside.
Lower the temp of the frying pan a bit. Place the garlic (and brown for a minute), then drop the green onions, mushrooms, broth, wine, cream, and parsley/thyme mixture.
Scrape the bottom of the pan as the broth boils. Once boiling – this is the key move – place the fried cutlets into the broth, lower the temp, and reduce the broth with the pan uncovered. Continue until broth reduces to your desired thickness. Salt and Pepper to taste.
I’m happy to say things improved this time around, right down to the shaking of the chicken to “Shake Your Booty,” for which I have a reliable witness though no video footage. Scared by my last attempt, I was also far less lackadaisical in my approach this time around, and appreciated the detail in the instructions. I was confused about what mushrooms to use—went with shiitake, which was a great choice—and then put them in the pan too early, plus, was surprised by the addition of green onions, but all things considered, not a bad turn out. (Okay, time for full honesty: I used most of a head of garlic, and didn’t cut the chicken into thirds because yet again I was confused by directions. Maybe I just can’t read???) There was no pairing with brandy but love the fanciness of that suggestion.
Things hit their stride once the pan actually got hot enough to do the thing I wanted it to—I blame getting readjusted to an electric stove on this one. Once I added the liquid though, it took longer than I thought it would to get the broth boiling and to work its way down thickness-wise, and in the end, I’m still not sure it tasted enough like marsala, or even smelled enough like it, though it definitely wasn’t too salty, did not taste too much like beef, and was really good. I think we know the culprit though: Me. I’m too impatient, and I’m not dad enough to make chicken marsala.
Donations time: Last month, $110 went to SF New Deal. This month, donations will go to Black Farmer Fund, which aims to “create a thriving, resilient, and equitable food system by investing in black food systems entrepreneurs and communities in New York.” You can sign up to become a donor to this newsletter for $5 a month or $30 a year here.