Date Published: April 4th, 2021 | Last Updated: April 4th, 2021
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 40 mins

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Back in my uni days when I first started discovering how to cook on my own, my friend Mehdi would occasionally come over and we’d experiment with some recipes. One night we decided to try making chicken MASALA, the Indian dish, but accidentally made chicken MARSALA, the Italian dish. It still makes me laugh to think that I never even questioned that the recipe was not what I was looking for – even when there were no spices or curries involved. 😂 I kept thinking things weren’t right while we were making it, but trusted that the recipe would somehow all come together in the end – it had a bunch of positive reviews after all. 😅 This goes to show you how noob I was at the time at cooking and couldn’t realize that there was no way my list of ingredients would make an Indian dish (it even used Italian wine for gods sake! 😅😅😅). Obviously at the end of the cook, the dish didn’t magically turn into Indian chicken masala but the chicken came out so tender and the creamy mushroom wine sauce was damn addicting. It was the best mistake I made in kitchen that day. It was so delicious that I’ve made it at least half a dozen times since. Over the years I’ve experimented with a few different recipes and have settled on this version. You’ll probably find that this recipe yields too much sauce, but I’ve done it on purpose because the sauce is THAT good. I like to serve it with some bread to soak up the extra sauce or drizzle it over mashed potatoes. Mmmmm. It’s also really good served over pasta shells and dice up the chicken instead of serving it as a cutlet.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 large chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsps olive oil
• 2 Tbsps (30g) + 1 Tbsp (15g) butter
• 250g white button mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup Marsala wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy/thickened cream
• 3/4 tsp dry thyme (or 2 tsp fresh thyme)
• Parsley to garnish (optional)

Directions:

In a wide bowl, mix together the flour, salt, black pepper, and oregano.

Butterfly the chicken breasts (see tutorial here) and pound down until they’re roughly 1.5cm thick then coat each chicken breast in the flour mixture until fully covered. Shake off any excess flour. Set aside.

(If you’ve got a smaller pan you can also cut them into 4 cutlets instead of 2 large ones.)

In a skillet or wide pan on MED-HIGH heat, add the 2 Tbsps of olive oil and 2 Tbsps of butter and mix together until melted. Add in the chicken breasts (you can do one at a time if your pan is too small) and brown each side until lightly golden brown (3-4 mins on each side). You do not want to cook the chicken all the way through, just brown the outside. Remove the chicken from the pan onto a plate and set aside.

In the same pan with the remaining butter/olive oil, add in 1 Tbsp of butter and sauté the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until browned. Then add in the garlic and onion. Cook for another few minutes until the onion starts to turn translucent.

Add in the Marsala wine, chicken broth, cream, and thyme. Stir and bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat to MED until you get a light simmer. Continue simmering the sauce until it has reduced in half and slightly thickened. The sauce will turn a darker colour. You will get a thin cream sauce at this stage (~15-20mins).

If you’re planning to serve this over pasta, rice or a side dish, now is a good time to make it while you wait for the sauce to simmer.

Once the sauce has reduced, add back in the chicken breasts and continue cooking until the chicken is fully warmed, cooked and the sauce has thickened a bit more (or to your liking). The flour coating on the chicken will help thicken the sauce further. Done! Sprinkle some parsley on top for garnish.

Tip: If your chicken is already cooked but your sauce isn’t thick enough, you can remove the chicken and continue boiling down the sauce on its own or alternatively mix in a couple tablespoons of flour to thicken it (do not add the flour directly to the sauce or it will clump – add it in a small bowl and mix a small amount of sauce with the flour until you get a smooth paste, then add it to the pan and continue to mix).

Summarized Recipe:

Date Published: April 3rd, 2021 | Last Updated: April 3rd, 2021
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 1 hour

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Warning: This recipe is slow, painful, and requires constant attention, but the end result is a beautiful creamy risotto, made the traditional way. It’s not difficult but it is time-consuming. If you’ve got a spare couple of hours on a lazy day off, this recipe may be for you. So why is making risotto so slow and painful? Believe it or not, the creaminess of a risotto is from the starch of the rice that is released slowly by constantly stirring the rice in a small amount of liquid. As you agitate the rice grains, the released starch creates a creamy texture with the broth without any need of cream or butter. This process must be done slowly on a low-medium heat or else the starches won’t release properly and your risotto won’t be as creamy. Although it’s a mind-numbing process to wait for the liquids to absorb each time, the constant stirring of the risotto can actually be kind of therapeutic if you’ve had a long day and just need to zone out.

I’m a fan of versatile recipes and this recipe fits right into that category. I’ve written it as a ‘mushroom and sausage risotto’, but you can add in whatever meat or veg you want. Just keep the methods of making the rice the same and at the end just stir in whatever cooked meat or veg you like. You can even stir in a few tablespoons of pesto! To make this vegetarian, simply omit the sausage and use vegetable broth instead.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 4 sausages
• 250g white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1.5 cups Arborio rice
• 1 cup dry white wine
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Warm up the broth either in a saucepan over low heat or in the microwave. Set aside.

In a pan on MED-HIGH heat, add a few tablespoons of oil and cook the sausages until the outside is crispy then remove them from heat and set aside. Wait for them to cool a little then slice them into bite-sized pieces.

In the same pan with the leftover oil, add the sliced mushrooms and sauté until they’re golden brown. Remove the mushrooms and any liquids and set aside.

In the same pan on MED heat, add another couple tablespoons of oil and sauté the garlic and onion until the onion starts to turn translucent. Add in the rice and sauté for a couple minutes until the rice absorbs some of the oil. Then add in the 1 cup of white wine and sauté until all the wine is absorbed by the rice.

Once the wine is absorbed, add 1/2 cup broth to the rice and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked.

Once the last of the broth has been absorbed, stir in the cooked sausages and mushrooms (with any of their liquids) and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Then turn off the heat, add the parmesan and stir until melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Tip: To make it indulgent, stir in 50g of butter at the end before serving.

Summarized Recipe: