Someone asked for a chicken marsala recipe in the ‘your requests” section of my site. Somehow I never got around to shooting my version. My bad. Mea Maxima Culpa. I finally managed to plan dinner in a way that my kiddo would be eating something else—17% alcohol and my kid really doesn’t mix—and we’d be having the chicken marsala with rice and veggies and we’d all live happily ever after in a fecund nirvana.

Now, remind me again why I don’t cook this more often? It’s so good—I could just eat this with a spoon and die a happy woman. Chicken Marsala is amazing and elegant yet so easy to fix. I add peaches to my sauce for a slight hint of sweetness and sour cream for a bit of tanginess. Nothing that will overrule the wonderful flavor of the marsala itself, but enough to make it all blend together in a mind-blowing sauce.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
5 large mushrooms
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 cup marsala
1 heaping tbsp sour cream
2 peach halves (syrup rinsed off)
flat-leaf parsley
all-purpose flour
butter
pepper
salt
oil


Directions:

* this was a dish for two

The happy ones: onion, brushed mushrooms, 2 peach halves (syrup rinsed off), garlic, parsley and the marsala. I’ve used a ‘fine’ marsala, it’s a typical cooking wine. Since I’m adding peaches to my sauce I opted for semi-sweet, but you can use a sweet or dry marsala as well.

Basic cooking 101. Mince your onion and grate or mince your garlic.

If the mushrooms aren’t too dirty, you can simply brush them with a soft towel or special brush. Apparently it really doesn’t matter if you wash or brush them, so whatever floats your boat. Finely slice and chop the peaches.

Here’s where I went wrong: I seasoned the chicken fillets with salt and pepper but forgot to add flour as well. I added it later on, but you’ll want to do that now, it makes it easier.

Combine 2 tbsp oil with some butter. Don’t be afraid to use butter for this sauce. Lightly brown the chicken, no need to cook it all the way through, we’ll be simmering it in the sauce later on.

Once browned, remove the chicken from the pan and cover with tinfoil.

Sautee the onions for about 4 minutes before adding the garlic and mushrooms. I added my flour at this point, just a heaping tsp. Cook for another 2 minutes before adding the peaches.
 

One of the most common kitchen mistakes is to think the alcohol will burn off. It doesn’t. You would have to cook this sauce for probably 4 hours straight to eradicate the alcohol. Marsala has no less than 17% alcohol, just so you know in case you have kids to feed. They’d sleep like roses right after dinner, though!

 
I poured in about 1 cup of this wonderful amber liquid. How I love this flavor.

The scent that arises will make you feel like you’re walking around a Sicilian town during dinner time. Divine. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat.

Season the sauce with a good pinch of salt and pepper and add the chicken to the sauce. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes with the lid on and another 5 minutes with the lid off, this will give the sauce a chance to cook down.

Gives you plenty time to finely chop a handful flat-leaf parsley. Don’t like parsley? Just use 1 or max 2 fresh thyme sprigs in stead.

Take the chicken out off the sauce and finish the sauce with a heaping tbsp sour cream and the chopped parsley. Don’t feel like using cream in your sauce? No problem, a little fresh lemon juice also works and adds a wicked flavor.

What can I say? Italians do it better!