Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce

Yes, my sweet friends, it is as appetizing as it sounds.  I made this last week and I can STILL taste it in my mouth.  I mean, it is one of those great chicken dishes that I've decided will be a go-to dinner....if only I were like Giada and kept marscapone cheese just lying around...ok so maybe it will be a meal I bring to my friends on special occasions.  But either way, it was definitely outstanding.  Five stars for sure.

You will start noticing a trend of Food Network star recipes in the next month's posts from me because what Kate and I have decided to do for this month (maybe trickling into October, we'll see) is to narrow down a month's worth of recipes that we've been wanting to try but have been lost in our abyss of recipes over the years.  So, I chose to start with my Food Network Recipe Box which I have neglected, and friends: can you guess how many pages of recipes I have?  72!!!  So, I went through and chose the top recipes that sounded incredible and that I hadn't yet made.  Don't you guys find that sometimes you just get lost in your recipes and you want to try them all but don't ever just DO it?  Well, that's sort of the point of this little exercise Kate and I are doing: to cook our way through all of our insane amounts of recipes little by little, and in an ORGANIZED fashion.  Organize your recipes in anyway, but the point is: find something and stick to it!  Is it cooking through an edition of Cooking Light for a month?  Do it!  We are finding that not only is this adding organization and structure to our cooking lives, but it is allowing us to FINALLY try those great recipes saved over the last 4 or 5 years.

Ok so on to the chicken recipe.  I had an accomplice in my kitchen this night (Hi Boo! (Sara)) to take pictures of my every move so yes- this is going to be one of those step by step posts.

This serves about 4 people and I'd say between prep and actually getting it on the table, I'd give yourself 40 or so minutes

Ingredients:

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper 
• 2-4 chicken breasts, pounded thin
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 chopped yellow onion
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced (or chopped fine so you can disguise the mushrooms...I'm onto you non-mushroom people)
• 4-5 big cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 cup dry Marsala wine (or any kind of white wine)
• 1 package of mascarpone cheese
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped for garnish (or you could use thyme)

pound out your chicken breasts (my package  had two breasts, but the sauce can easily cover 4 breasts)

get your oil (olive) heated in a skillet on medium-high heat.

season yo' chicken (S&P on both sides)

get those babies sizzlin' and searin'

that, my friends, is a good sear.  Make sure you do not turn the chicken over until it is ready- if it sticks to the pan, it's not ready.

ok so when your chicken is seared on both sides (again, you'll know because it will easily lift off the pan), remove it to a plate (no, it will not be cooked through at that point)  then turn your heat down to medium, and add your onions, garlic, and chopped mushrooms as I am doing in the above picture

now we've got everyone in the pan, nice and happy, sizzling away.  add a dash of salt and let this cook down

(note: I'm sorry for the quality of pictures.  I went back and edited them but clearly my computer did not save those changes...yes, it was the computer's fault.) ok, after your mushrooms and onions and garlic have cooked down, have beautiful color on them, and the onions are translucent, add your marsala or white wine, or in my case, both white cooking wine and sherry.

once you add your liquid, let it reduce down a bit

1) notice the beautiful color of the mushrooms and onions- a dark, rich, beautiful color, right?

  thanks for humoring me, now add your mascarpone cheese and dijon (not pictured)

look at everything coming together so beautifully.  mmmmmm. now, bring this to a strong simmer

ok now add your chicken back in (and those juices that collected under the chicken- that's flavor)

let this merry together on simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

there's that beautiful chicken doin' it's thing.  gosh I can taste this right now.  Ho.ly. Mo.ly. 

sautee some spinach (all this entails is adding a slight touch of oil to a pot, pour in your spinach, season with salt and pepper, cover with a lid and let cook down for 10 or so minutes

cut up some red potatoes, drizzle in a bit of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. toss together (psst: there shouldn't be an abundance of oil- just enough to coat) roast at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. add some chopped garlic and fresh thyme for extra flavor

there we have it- with my limited presentation skills (hey, I didn't go to culinary school!).  I sprinkled with some freshly chopped parsley and topped my beautiful bed of sauteed spinach with the chicken and it's silky smooth sauce with roasted potatoes for a perfectly balanced dinner.  It was memorable to say the least!

For Giada's version, where it is served over pasta, click here

 try this asap!  you won't be sorry you did!  Oh, and if you are craving a sweet treat, I whipped these up the other day for a cookie exchange and they were scrumptious