Marsala Chicken from Our Community Table

This month I am sharing with you one of my family’s favorite chicken recipes. Marsala chicken makes an appearance during holiday meals and other special occasions at my house. The flavors are amazing.

Last month, Cristyne shared a honey cake recipe and claimed to be a honey cake snob. I understand food snobbery! Personally, I am a big paprika snob. (If it’s not Hungarian, it’s not worth using.) Another thing that I am a big snob about is Wishbone brand Italian salad dressing, which is used as the marinade in the recipe below.

To the kosher consumer, any time a new product gets kosher supervision it is a big deal. Some of the more popular items to become kosher in the past are Oreo cookies and M & M’s. But the item that got me most excited was Wishbone Italian Salad Dressing. What a superior product! I simply adore the stuff. Generally, I make my own salad dressings. But I always have Wishbone Italian in the fridge and pantry.

I like to marinate chicken in zip-lock bags. From time to time, turn the bag upside down to ensure that all sides of the pieces spend time soaking in the marinade. The amount of dressing used for the marinade is not specific. You may need more or less, depending on the size of the chicken pieces.

Note that one of the ingredients in the recipe is chicken stock or water. There is a huge difference between using stock or using water. But this recipe is so amazingly flavorful that going with water will still yield delicious results. The water, together with the Marsala, is added to the pan that has already browned the chicken and sautéed the mushrooms. Plus, the marinade (Wishbone all the way!) does so much for the chicken. So, if you don’t have stock on hand, using water is a fine option.

Deena Abraham
Community Contributor

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 chicken, cut up

• 1/2 c. Italian salad dressing

• 1 c. flour, approximately

• 1/4 tsp. pepper

• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

• 1/4 tsp. paprika

• oil, to cover the bottom of a pan generously

• 1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

• 1/2 c. Marsala wine

• 1/2 c. chicken stock or water

• 1-2 tsp. parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the Italian dressing overnight in the refrigerator.

2. In a bowl, combine the flour, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and paprika.

3. Pour enough oil in to a frying pan to generously cover the bottom and heat over a medium flame.

4. Coat chicken pieces with the seasoned flour and brown on both sides in the hot oil. Place browned chicken in a baking dish.

5. Add the mushrooms to the pan and sauté for a few minutes.

6. Pour chicken stock/water and Marsala into the pan and bring to a hard boil. Cook for a few minutes.

7. Pour the liquid over the chicken. Sprinkle the parsley on top.

8. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 - 60 minutes. (Baking time depends on size of pieces and how cooked they already were from being browned.)