Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is a classic dish that I’ve enjoyed on many occasions, so I was glad to see it represented in Saveurs selection. However, I had actually never tried making it before. This was recipe the impetus I needed to pick up a pan and dive in. This version is surprisingly low labor, uses only a few ingredients and seemed very simple. I suppose that’s why they call it a classic. The recipe can be found here.

Ingredients

chicken cutlets, salt and pepper, flour, olive oil, butter, button mushrooms, shallots, garlic, Marsala wine, chicken stock

Substitutions: I used Earth Balance instead of the butter and onions instead of the shallots.

The Process

Dredging and browning the chicken is a quick process, but it works best when you keep one “wet hand” to handle the chicken and one “dry hand” to handle the pan, oil and utensils. As usual, I needed a little more oil than the recipe called for. I then browned the mushrooms, which always takes a fair amount of time, and plated them atop the chicken. Finally the sauce step involved browning the onions and garlic, adding some flour and wine and letting it thicken. I had to scrape a little to keep the flour from sticking to the pan but otherwise was very satisfied. returning everything to the pan for a good coating meant having a large enough pan was imperative unless you like having a stuff spill onto you oven. Luckily I had a large enough pan.

The Results

This has got to be one of the moistest, most flavorful chickens I have ever made in a pan. You do need to like the Marsala flavor of course, but I found it blended very well with the chicken and mushrooms. The one difference between the photograph accompanying the recipe and my results were that I was expecting more sauce than the recipe produced. However, as mentioned, the chicken was still very moist and I did not mind. For thinner slices than I obtained you can consider pounding your chicken cutlets with a meat tenderizer

Chicken Marsala Recipe from Saveur

before starting.

Rosti

When I saw this recipe for Rosti, Swiss Hash Browns, in the Saveur 150 Classics magzine all I could think was “This is a giant Latke”. Now while many people love latkes, I’m actually not their biggest fan. I need to eat them straight off the frying pan with sour cream. Therefore I was a little doubtful I would enjoy this potato only recipe. Still I was willing to give it a try.

Ingredients:

russet potatoes

lard or unsalted butter (Substitution Note: I used Earth Balance to make this non-dairy and kosher)

canola oil

salt

This recipe is actually available online on Saveur’s website.

The Process:

I elected to hand grate the potatoes, and found it not unlike making potato kugel. The instructions are simple and easy so once everything was boiled and grating it went into the skillet with Earth Balance.

I stirred frequently in the beginning to throughly coat the potatoes. Do not skimp on skillet space! Use at least the recommended 8″ skillet. This gives you enough space to mix the potatoes and the butter/lard quickly and easily. After that, I used a hard earthenware plate to weigh down the mix and voila! Rosti.

To flip the Rosti onto the plate I enlisted my husbands help and we both

donned oven mitts to avoid burning. It actually slid right off thanks to the well greased potatoes. It looked really pretty.

The Taste:

It looks like Saveur promised and did indeed taste like a less-crisp latke, but slightly more Earthy/wholesome. The real kicker? My baby who was just starting finger foods at the time loved it! I still needed the sour cream and applesauce.