Chicken Marsala

"I love cooking with wine and sometimes I even put it in the food." 

I'm sort of embarrassed to say that the concept of cooking with wine (and by "cooking" I mean adding it to the food) was completely foreign to me. 

What? You just put wine into the pan? And you, like, cook the meat in it? But then what goes in the red solo cup that I just happen to carry around in my purse.

Then it occurred to me that all the recipes were telling to add wine because it might actually improve my flavorless cooking. But then you have an open bottle of wine laying around...

"And you finished off the whole bottle?"

"I had to, it's vodka wine. It goes bad once it's opened."

(bonus points if you know the reference)

Turns out that wine makes everything more delicious. Who knew? Oh, that's right, everyone who's ever written a cookbook. I do really like the idea though that if you can't use milk, just use Pinot Grigio. 

You're supposed to dredge the chicken in flour before cooking it up, but I made this as a freezer meal, so some of the flour soaked into the chicken so I dredged them a second time. This added a really nice coating and flavor.

I also added a little flour to the sauce to thicken it up.

Overall this was fabulous (and as with all my chicken recipes, go great on salad the next day). 

Ingredients (adapted from Savory Sweet Life)

2 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 ounces container of mushroom, sliced and cleaned

2 tablespoons margarine

1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons flour

Directions

1. Cut each chicken breast horizontally so you have two thin pieces. Wrap each one in plastic and pound with a meat tenderizer until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste on both sides. Place some flour on a plate and and dredge each piece of chicken in it.
2. If you're making this as a freezer meal, I wrapped the dredged chicken in Press n' Seal and placed them in freezer bags at this point. I also chopped mushrooms and measured out liquid ingredients (aside from olive oil) and froze them separate bags.
3. To cook, remove from freezer and defrost completely before cooking. Again, I dredged the chicken again at this point.
4. Heat the oil over medium-high heat saute each piece of chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Remove chicken and place them on your serving platter covering them with foil. 
5. Reduce the heat to medium and add mushrooms. You may need to add a little more oil. Saute mushrooms for 4-5 minutes making sure to season them with salt and pepper lightly. Add marsala wine, white wine, and chicken stock allowing the liquid to reduce slightly. I also added a handful of flour to thicken the sauce. 
6. Serve chicken with spoonfuls of mushrooms and sauce.

One more photo for good luck