Anti-Halloween Dinner: Chicken Marsala

This post will feature no pumpkins, no desserts incorporating Halloween candy, and certainly no gory- and/or spooky-looking food of any kind. I am a Halloween grinch. Enough said.

Actually, one more thing to add: my mom's a Halloween grinch, too. Maybe it's because she's from England and didn't have it growing up. I think that's where I got it from. She "forgot" to get candy, so we enjoyed the evening with the outside lights off and shades drawn to ward off potential trick-or-treaters. We still got one, though.

Instead, we enjoyed a nice meal. It was lovely to get away for the weekend to visit my parents and I look forward to visiting my husband's family tomorrow. I didn't bring my camera home, but was able to snap a few pictures using my mom's camera. The lighting conditions were less than ideal, and thus, the picture qualities are less than stellar. Still delicious, though. And, you get to see my parents' new kitchen countertop.

Earlier today, I managed to catch my favorite television show, America's Test Kitchen, where they made garlic mashed potatoes using a slightly modified method. I was also carrying on a conversation at the time, so I didn't get the exact method and quantities, but I think I recreated it fairly well with the ingredients that were on hand. I also left out a lot of butter, but they were still delicious (especially with the Marsala sauce!). And, I should mention that my mom did most of the work on the chicken and also made a lovely side of broccoli (my favorite veg). Good job, Mom!

Chicken Marsala
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Serves 4

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
3 ounces pancetta or bacon, finely chopped
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced or quartered
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 1/2 cups sweet Marsala
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into three pieces and chilled
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees and adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Put flour in a shallow dish or pie plate.
2. Pound the thicker ends of the chicken breasts, or cut breasts into cutlets and pound to even thinness, if you prefer. Pat dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook each side until lightly golden brown. If going the cutlet route, you will need to do two batches and they will cook faster. When done, transfer to a platter in the oven to keep warm.
4. Add remaining tablespoon oil and return to medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pancetta and mushrooms. Cooking until the pancetta is crisp and mushrooms are brown, about 10 minutes.
5. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minutes. Add Marsala, being sure to scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and simmer until reduced and syrupy, about 8 minutes.
6. Stir in lemon juice and any accumulated chicken juice. Over low heat, whisk in butter once piece at a time. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Serves 4

4-5 large red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small-medium pieces

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons butter, plus more to taste

Half and half (or milk)

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter over medium-low heat and add minced garlic. Cook until pale golden and beginning to stick in clumps. Add the raw potatoes and half-and-half or milk and water in equal parts until all but covering the potatoes. Give a good stir and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes). Mash potatoes, adding more butter if desired, and season to taste.


Whew! That's it. I should add that the men-folk in the house (my dad and husband) were slightly concerned about how strong the garlic would be in the potatoes based upon the smell of the initial garlic cooking. They were pleasantly surprised, as the initial cooking really mellows the garlic flavor. Give 'em a try!

It's been a while...

Food blogging proves to be a difficult activity with grad school, rehearsals, concerts, work, and decreasing daylight hours. So, here's a short post on two unrelated topics:

A couple recent pictures of my horse, Bear. We went on a trail ride and it was fun.

All ready to head home...

Also, if you need a smile, be sure to check out My Milk Toof. It's adorable.

That's it for now. Food blogging resumes sometime in the future...

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Bananas pose somewhat of a problem for me. They’re nutritious. They’re conveniently portable and self-contained. They’re relatively inexpensive. However, I only like them just prior to becoming ripe. Once bananas become fully ripe (and reach the peak of deliciousness, I’m told by others), I can’t do it. It has mostly to do with texture, I think. Too mushy. And the taste. Too much banana. Too banana-y.

As a result, there are usually a number of brown bananas in the freezer, which end up in various cakes, muffins, and breads. Unfortunately, I don’t care for any of those (again, too much banana). Fortunately, I’m in the minority and can always find people to help me out. I’ve taken to making muffins instead of loaves, as they are more easily distributed and don’t end up all in one place (e.g., Jeff’s belly).

Using standard muffins cups and a greased 1/3 cup measure for scooping, this yielded more than 12 muffins. I’m guessing it probably would make about 15. Rather than make more regular muffins, I used a cookie scoop and a little tartlet pan to make 12 little muffin tops (or muffies, if you prefer), as we all know the best part of the muffin is the top, right? Some of my previous Perkins coworkers can vouch for my obsession with muffin tops (“Hey Alex—wanna share a muffin? I left you the bottom half…”).

Little muffies, all in a row...

As you can tell in the pictures, the oven has fairly savage hot and cool spots. It also lacks a window on the door and a light on the inside. I feel that adds more risk (and sometimes, more reward) to the cooking/baking process. I opted not to remove that risk by rotating the muffin pans halfway through baking. Be adventurous! Don’t rotate! Just kidding. Or am I?

And lastly, dear Rachael: I could not help but think of you while I was baking these. I contemplated making a cream cheese frosting, just like they had on the good days at the Norm, in honor of you. Miss you!

Muffin glamour shot!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½ cups whole or low-fat yogurt

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

1 cup (or more) chocolate chips

3 very ripe bananas, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 12-cup muffin tins or one 12-cup tin and whatever you can find with which you want to experiment.

Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until barely combined. Fold in melted butter. Fold in chocolate chips and bananas, being careful not to over-mix.

Scoop batter into muffin cups using a greased 1/3 cup measure. Bake until golden and toothpick comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes (less is you make smaller muffins). If you’re feeling ambitious, rotate the pans halfway through baking.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before serving. These are best the day they’re made, but have enough moisture to keep a couple days.

Veggie Chicken Pizza

This is my own take on my favorite pizza at work. It also was an opportunity to use up various leftovers in the fridge. The pizza that inspired this is topped with mushrooms, but mushrooms are not my favorite. If you like mushrooms, throw ‘em on. The sauce is so rich and creamy (with a little bit of melted cheese mixed in) that very little cheese is required on top. Unless, of course, you really love cheese.

This pizza smelled amazing and tasted even better. My husband’s response, upon first glance was, “I could eat a lot of that.” And he did.

Chicken Veggie Pizza

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup cream

¼ cup finely grated parmesan or other hard cheese

Pizza crust of choice (I wrote about my choice here)

Cheese of choice (mozzarella or Italian blend)

Cooked chicken breast, sliced or shredded

Diced bell pepper, red onion, corn (fresh or frozen kernels)

Red pepper flakes, if you like spice :)

To make sauce: Slowly cook minced garlic in melted butter over medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes. Add cream and gently simmer until slightly reduced and thickened. Stir in cheese until smooth and remove from heat. The sauce will thicken upon standing, but will still be plenty spreadable.

Prepare pizza crust as directed. Spread with sauce, and then add cheese, chicken, vegetables, and red pepper flakes. Bake until cheese is spotted golden brown.