The first time I had chicken marsala was at our friend’s wedding rehearsal dinner in 2006. It was delicious, and I’ve craved it occasionally since then. But, I’ve never made it, mainly because I never think to buy marsala wine. But, then I read that dry vermouth can be swapped out for the marsala. And guess what? I just happened to have a bottle of vermouth languishing on top of our refrigerator.
Marsala normally has mushrooms, but I don’t like them and the dish was so incredibly rich that I can’t imagine how it could have had any more flavor. Seriously.
Chicken Marsala With Vermouth
Olive oil
2 ounces of pancetta
2 sliced shallots
4 thin chicken breasts
Flour for dredging the chicken
Pepper
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 cup of vermouth
5 tablespoons of heavy cream (don’t substitute half and half, trust me on this)
Parsley
Saute the pancetta in a tablespoon of olive oil. When it’s browned, drain it on paper towels.
Saute the shallots in the pancetta drippings and set them aside.
Add more olive oil to the pan and heat it until a drop of flour sizzles in pan. While the oil heats, thoroughly mix together the pepper, paprika and flour. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. Fry the chicken in the olive oil, approximately 7 minutes a side. (I like a lot of color on my chicken especially when making a pan sauce, so this is only a guide.)
When the chicken is done, drain it on a paper towel. Turn the heat off, and add the vermouth to deglaze the pan.
Turn the heat back on low, and add the cream. Then add the chicken and shallots into the pan, reheat the chicken and serve over your starch of choice.
I served the chicken and sauce over couscous, because I am madly in love with couscous right now.
Then I added chopped parsley, for contrast: cold against hot, light against the rich cream sauce. And it was incredible – the salty pancetta, the crisp chicken, the creamy vermouth sauce, the shallots, the parsley, the couscous. When my husband came home I was sated. I couldn’t even eat more than half of the piece of chicken.
Which raises the question, “If you make a dish with bacon and heavy cream but can only eat a portion of it, is it really that bad for you?”
