Dinner's Ready: EASY CHICKEN MARSALA

"Anyone can cook!"

It is a line from the children's movie, "Ratatouille", and apparently, it is correct.

Tin Man went to Florida a month or so ago for a week to visit a sick extended family member .

Before he left, he went grocery shopping, and left me a list of what meals I should make while he was gone.

That sounds really weird, I am sure, but he is our chef, and resident grocery shopper.

It was a huge help for me, so I didn't have to race around trying to think up what to make for dinner every night.

I don't grocery shop, I don't enjoy cooking-and with him being out of town, I didn't know how I was going to work AND get dinner on the table, help with homework, make lunches for the next day, do the laundry, grade my papers,...

Ugh!

So he helped me by making sure I had things to cook while he was gone without me having to put much thought put into the process of cooking after a long day at school.

So his easy recipes for the week:

Turkey Tacos, Hamburgers, Spaghetti, and Chicken Marsala.

Wait.

What?

Chicken Marsala?!

That is what I said to Tin Man:

 "How can you say Chicken Marsala is easy? I have never made it before??!! It just sounds hard!"

But he reassured me, this was the easiest recipe-and that I could do it.

So,

I did.

And it was.

And the boys LOVED it.

Especially Dancing Boy who is my pickiest of eaters.

He ate two ginormous chicken breasts himself. (!!)

(Which never happens, by the way, with anything except for cake, cupcakes, or brownies, or candy-)

I made a Cesar salad, and mashed potatoes to go with it, and it turned out to be a great meal. 

I felt like a real cook that night, making this Chicken Marsala.

(I mean, it even sounds like a recipe a real chef would make, doesn't it?!)

But it was crazy how easy it actually was.

And Dancing Boy kindly reminded me of what that cooking rat said in Ratatouille:

"Mom! You ARE a great cook! Remember that movie?'Anyone can cook!'  This was the best chicken I have ever had! "

If my pickiest eater thinks my chicken is good,

that means this is a recipe that should be passed on.

Super-Easy, and Super-Good

 (Remember: even Dancing Boy ate it-)

 Chicken Marsala

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 stick butter

 (we used soy butter because of Happy Boy's allergies-)
1 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

3/4 cup Marsala wine

1 cup sliced mushrooms

(which can be picked out by the kids, and were-)

In large saute or fry pan, melt butter. While butter is melting, combine flour, salt and pepper in small bowl. Dip each piece of chicken in milk (we used water, not milk-); shake off excess. Dredge chicken in flour mixture and add to fry pan. (I like to butterfly the chicken breasts before coating, so they are thinner, and crispier.)

Saute chicken in butter over medium to medium-high heat until browned and cooked through, turning often. Add more butter as needed. (Be careful turning chicken so as not to break off any of the flour coating.)

Remove chicken from pan and place on platter. Keep chicken warm while making the sauce.

Turn heat to medium high and add the mushrooms; saute until cooked. With mushrooms still in the pan, deglaze with the wine, stirring to get all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. ('Keep the bits'-that is the step that Tin Man said was important-) Turn heat to medium low and continue to cook sauce, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened slightly.

(Note: more wine or butter can be added as necessary. If sauce does not thicken properly, add a little bit of flour and continue to stir.)

When sauce is ready, add chicken back to the pan and turn to coat.

Remove chicken to serving platter and top with remaining sauce.

Decorate with parsley sprigs...which I skipped for the boys, but may do this for
Tin Man when I make this for him, and I will. Eventually.

(I still prefer his cooking to mine, so I will not be offering my cooking abilities until they are called upon!)

(...who proved the saying is true: "Anyone can cook". ...but still they may not want to-)