Hello again everybody!

I appreciate you returning for another episode of Sunday Gravy. Where weekly, I attempt to bring you new, sometimes challenging and delightful recipes to elevate your cooking skills and give you something to occupy your time during the NFL’s offseason. And you know what kids? This long motherfucking offseason is coming to an end really goddamn soon! In fact, after today I only have to come up with two more recipes to finish another season of Sunday Gravy. Seeing as how I already know what next week’s recipe will be that only leaves me with one more for the season finale!

I’m heading to the finish line!

Don’t get me wrong, I truly love to cook and I enjoy the hell out of finding new recipes and challenges to bring to you fine folks here. Yes, some of what I prepare could fall under the “challenging” heading but not all recipes do. In fact for today? Every one of you out there could make this. Hell, this could be a weeknight dinner if you skip the making your own pasta part.

That’s right folks! Today we are making chicken marsala!

Of course I have to bring up the level of difficulty by making my own pasta but just this once I’m going to let you use store bought pasta, especially if you really are making this on a weeknight.

Recipes can be broken down into “classes” like “guilty pleasures”, “weekday meals”, “throwback foods”, “holy-fuck-that-looks-challenging-as-shit”, “back the fuck away – this is mine” and this class of recipe. I call this class “panty dropping” recipes. If you are trying to impress a special lady or fella this fucker right here? It will do the trick. That’s right ladies, you can call this a “panty dropper” too because many menfolk do wear panties. They don’t always refer to them as panties preferring to use the more masculine term “dainties” instead but they are panties nonetheless!

Have I used “panty dropping” recipes to get in the good graces of a fine feminine form in the past? You bet your fucking ass I have.

Know another solid panty dropper recipe? Steak Diane. Especially if you do the flaming cognac presentation deal. That’s fucking badass shit right there.

Regardless, if you’re trying to impress someone or just want an easy, delicious dinner then this is your jam right here. Make the chicken, serve on some pasta, maybe a little side salad and you’re living the life.

Let’s go!

I won’t be getting into the full pasta recipe breakdown today having done this several times before including here. You know the basics of 1 1/2 cups of semolina flour, a little salt mixed in, then add two beaten eggs, two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of water. Mix to combine. Knead for 10 minutes, rest for half an hour, roll, cut, dry.

Boom bitches!

I do have a couple of interesting observations to make though. I believe it was for the chicken parmesan post that included homemade pasta where a discussion took place regarding the insanely awesome Kitchenaide stand mixer that I use to roll and cut my pasta. At some point that day I was asked if the mixer could do the kneading element rather than the cook having to hand knead the ball of dough for ten minutes. After doing some checking I concluded that you really did have to hand knead the dough for 10 minutes to give you the right pliability and texture.

I am very happy to admit that I was very fucking wrong with that advice.

Fuck yes, the Kitchenaide will do the whole goddamn job!

I think it was either Romonobyl or Spanky Datass who asked if the machine would do the kneading. Feeling comfortable with my disaster recovery skills I gave it a whirl this time.

Worked perfectly!

Do you have any idea how easy that makes doing the homemade pasta? Holy shit I am NEVER buying store bought fettucine ever again. EVER!

What you do is put the paddle attachment on the mixer then add the flour and salt into the work bowl. Give it a mix for 30 seconds or so then add in the eggs, oil and water and give another mix for about 2-3 minutes or until the mixture has formed into dough while incorporating all of the flour. Then remove the paddle attachment, put on the bread hook attachment, turn on a kitchen timer set to 10 minutes turn the mixer onto speed setting “2” and walk away. Walk the fuck away! Come back in ten minutes, take the ball of dough, maybe rub a little olive oil on it, place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Roll, and cut and dry. So fucking easy!

I was reflecting back to when I first fucked around with homemade pasta. I always hand kneaded the dough, which made a big damn mess on the floor. I frequently had to roll the dough through the first thickness setting of the pasta roller 3 or 4 times to get it to cooperate. I had to have a towel on the floor because the noodles would break during cutting, I had to battle with the noddles sticking together when putting them on the drying rack etc. It was a pain in the ass!

Now? Holy shit folks, I’m practically a pasta professional. So fucking easy. See? This is where, practice or “reps” – as we get closer to football season – come(s) in handy.

I’m a goddamn pasta making star!

Woo!

Chicken Marsala!

(recipe with very few adjustments courtesy of Tyler Florence and Food Network.) In all seriousness if you are trying any recipe for the first time and you see that Tyler Florence has a recipe of the food you are searching for then try that recipe. I’ve used his recipes many times in the past and have never been disappointed.

Some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Adjust for number of diners.

1/2 cup or so of flour for dredging

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the sauce

3-4 ounces of prosciutto cut into strips or bits.

8 ounces of mushrooms. I used what was available at the store – baby bella mushrooms.

1 cup of dry marsala wine, you can use sweet marsala but I find it a little cloying.

1 cup of chicken stock

2 tablespoons of butter.

1 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Parsley to garnish.

Let’s get after the chicken first.

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees.

Take your chicken and slice – carefully – lengthwise down the middle. A good trick is to lie your hand along the top of the chicken to hold it in place then cut the chicken.

Place the chicken onto some parchment paper or plastic wrap and using the side of a meat mallet or hell, even a heavy ass cast iron skillet smack the bejesus out of the chicken. We want to flatten it to about 1/2″ in thickness like so.

Take out your skillet or Dutch oven and get it going over a medium-high heat. Add in the butter and olive oil.

Next get your flour dredge station set up.

For this application I like to season the chicken with salt and pepper BEFORE dredging in the flour. I feel it gives you better control of the seasoning. Get that chicken into the flour and coat evenly on both sides.

Working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan start sauteing the chicken in the butter and oil.

You want to cook the chicken for about 5 minutes on the first side, flip it over and cook for about 4 minutes on the other side. We’re looking for a glorious golden brown here.

Place the cooked chicken into a baking dish in the preheated 225 degree oven and repeat the steps until all of the chicken has been cooked.

Let’s grab that sauce by the sack now shall we?

Reduce the heat under the skillet we’ve been using for the chicken and add in the chopped up bits of the prosciutto.

That is a surprisingly sexy photo right there. It’s the chopped prosciutto added to the drippings and flour remnants from the cooked chicken. Give the meat a stir or two and cook for about 1-2 minutes just to release the fat content from the prosciutto. FYI, I used real prosciutto di Parmi for this. Try and restrain yourself from eating entire fistfuls of the ham, it’s kind of expensive and we only have a certain amount. Buy extra if you must.

/bought extra

Next we’re going to get the mushrooms going.

Add them in along with the prosciutto. Give them about 5-7 minutes to cook down and release some of their moisture. Right about here would be a good time to season with some black pepper and the dried thyme. Might want to hold back on the salt though. Remember we’ve got the chicken salted and now there’s some salt from the prosciutto as well.

For the next step, add in just a splash of the chicken stock. You can add in the wine first but if you’re not used to cooking with alcohol this might fuck with you. The marsala has a tendency to flame if the pan is hot and I don’t want you freaking out and setting things on fire or shitting your pants, so just a bit of chicken stock then the marsala. This should keep the flames at bay.

More stirring and mixing. Cook for a few minutes to cook out some of the alcohol. Then add in the balance of the chicken stock.

Let this stuff reduce down slightly, maybe ten more minutes. Give the sauce a taste and season accordingly.

Once it’s reduced let’s go ahead and add some…

BUTTER! Just wasn’t enough fat content in here. I would like to point out that no cheese was used in the making of this meal. Also? No garlic?

WHAT?

That’s right. No garlic. This is a subtle nuanced dish and we want the flavors to be present without being overwhelmed.

Finally, let’s get that chicken back into the pan.

Give this just a few more minutes for the sauce to thicken a little more. Spoon the sauce over the chicken as it cooks to ensure each piece gets covered with a little sauce goodness.

During this last step, get a pot of water on the boil to cook the pasta. Remember fresh pasta only needs 3-4 minutes to reach al dente perfection.

One final lesson before we get to the serious business of shoving handfuls of this into our awaiting jaws. We’ve had this discussion before. Please don’t grab some of the cooked noodles and put the chicken and sauce directly on top.

Take a spoonful of the sauce, place into a skillet or saute pan and then add in the cooked pasta so we can incorporate the sauce into the pasta instead of serving the chicken over unsauced or unseasoned pasta.

Now take the treated pasta, put some on your plate. Grab a piece (or 2) of the chicken and ladle some extra sauce on top. Finally finish with some chopped parsley.

Once more, look at this sexy motherfucker right here.

The photo is an attempt using a new camera setting to give us better food close ups. Obviously a work in progress. But if you enlarge that damn thing?

Oh Hell yes!

Fresh homemade toothsome pasta. The marsala sauce has a tang and an acidity from the wine, almost a sherry bite. The mushrooms are earthy and have also absorbed some of the wine sauce, the prosciutto adds some salt and an almost bacon like quality to the party. That chicken though? Insanely delicious. So damn good. So damn easy. So damn panty dropping awesome.

This is simple enough for the cook with any talent level and has a complexity of flavors that will belie it’s ease of preparation.

Make this!

Work on your pasta skills!

Drink things!

Repeat!

Thanks for stopping by good folks.

PEACE!