A Blast from the Past - Marsala Chicken

A catering sized version of Marsala Chicken

Nothing gave me the travel bug last year more than watching Rick Stein's Long Weekends on BBC 2. During 2016 I tried to curb my cookery book obsession, my shelves are full of recipes that have never been tried after all and I still have a lot of reading to get through and then there's the Internet, recipes of all kinds available in a few key strokes. But while I've been able to give up the paper novel, my love of cookery books continues and I asked my husband to get me the accompanying cookery book for Christmas.

As soon as I opened it there were recipes I wanted to try right away and with New Year coming up, it provided the ideal opportunity to give some a try. Nine peaople, so plenty of food required.

The recipes are all available in the book. The selection I chose was as follows

Pollo alla Marsala (page 43) Ridiculously easy to make. I made a double portion and as I knew I was going to make it in advance I also used boneless skinless chicken thighs rather than chicken breast which may have dried out as I had to make it a day early. This was by far the star of the show taste wise and I will definitely make it again and try it with chicken breast. It's a 70's classic, but I don't know why it fell out of favour as it's rich winy smell and flavour is mouth watering. For 9 people I used 18 boneless, skinless chicken thighs - which I battered out with a rolling pin until they were quite thin as you would with the chicken breast.

The recipe and instructions to feed four are as follows and I think looking at the picture in the book would be an altogether more sophisticated offering than my mass catering affair!

4 skinless boneless chicken thighs
Seasoning
40g plain flour
50g butter
2tbsp olive oil
2 finely chopped shallots
1 grated garlic clove
160g sliced chestnut mushrooms
250ml Marsala
150ml chicken stock
Chopped parsley, to serve

Put the chicken breasts between sheets of clingfilm or in a plastic bag and using a mallet or rolling pin beat them until they are around 5mm thick.
Season with salt and pepper and dust with the flour, shaking off any excess.
Heat half the butter in a pan with 1tbsp olive oil, fry the chicken breasts over a medium heat for about 3 minutes each side, until golden and then set aside.
Wipe the pan with kitchen roll and then heat the remaining butter and oil. Fry the shallots and garlic for about 5 minutes until soft, add the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes, add the Marsala and turn up the heat, to burn off the alcohol and reduce the liquid to about half. Turn down the heat, add the stock and the chicken breasts and cook for about 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the parsley. Goes great with some sauteed potatoes.

For anyone following slimming world like me, you could swap each tablespoon of oil for 14 sprays of Fillippo Berio spray olive oil = 2 syns and omit the butter
250mls of Marsala would be 20 syns, but you could reduce the volume and add more stock, this would obviously reduce the Marsala taste
40g flour is 7.5 syns
In total that's around 30 syns for the whole recipe, 7.5 per serving - OK for a special evening served with SW chips and a crisp green salad or some green beans.

For anyone just wanting to be a bit healthier you could omit the butter, your sauce will be less rich and glossy.

Kozani Chicken with prunes, saffron and paprika (page 46) The picture in the book looks so enticing. It was also incredibly simple to make with only a few ingredients. I was nervous about the prunes, there's something about prunes that you fear may discourage your guests, but they were delicious, as were the soft sweet onions.
What I didn't like so much was the chicken. You initially poach it in a saffron stock and I didn't like the taste of the saffron, it was a little like stale water. I would happily make this again but I would use a different poaching liquor, however, if you love the taste of saffron you will be fine with the recipe as it is.

Chickpeas and chorizo (page 42) Simple tapas meal, a great alternative to potatoes or pasta.

Baked Pasta  (page 292) A great big pasta pie, made with a delicious pork and beef ragu and anelletti pasta.

Crisp pork & beef pie (page 61) A filo sensation, and the first thing to be cleared by the hoards, a rich meaty, tomato, spicy, peppery sauces encases in crisp buttery filo and baked till golden and flaky.

Kozani Chicken with prunes, saffron and paprika

Kozani Chicken, Marsala Chicken and Baked Pasta

Chickpeas and Chorizo and roast Charlotte potatoes

Crispy beef and pork pie