Chicken Marsala

The interesting thing about growing up Taiwanese is that there are some "ethnic" foods you learn and enjoy late in life. For instance, Italian. I finally started eating non-spaghetti Italian food in my early 20's once I was on my own. Maybe that's why I really like cooking and eating Italian and Cajun style food?

This posting is more about cooking method or ingredients as it is about the actual food.

Take a chicken breast.

And pound it down. I use a heavy mallet and plastic wrap between the mallet and the chicken so that the mallet doesn't get chicken parts all over it. The thinner the better, as it lets the Marsala wine soak into the meat. However if it is too thin, then the chicken falls apart and you can't even get it off the cutting board and into the pan.

At this point, you're supposed to pick this up and lightly dredge it in a mixture of salt, Wondra flour, and dried oregano. But since I only discovered I was out of Wondra flour, I cheated and salted the chicken and then lightly sprinkled oregano and "regular" flour on the chicken.

All good Italian dishes seem to start with a base of olive oil and butter.

Place brest into pan and cook just a few minutes on one side.

Flip over to cook other side, add sliced mushrooms.

After a while, add Marsala wine. It has to be DRY Marsala, not sweet Marsala. When I first started cooking this dish, I picked sweet Marsala which pretty much ruins the dish. Cook down the dish in the wine and mushrooms.

The chicken was so wide that I sliced it in half and Wifey and I each had a half.

Serve over pasta or whatever you want.