Chicken Marsala

I love Olive Garden, but who wants to pay $16 for a plate of food? Especially when you're in college & broke? Uhmmm....not us. 

For Christmas my mom gave us girls a recipe binder that was full of all her recipes, such a good gift! In the binder she had old family recipes and some new recipes....some that I hadn't even tried yet. One of them was a recipe for chicken marsala. 

Now, I don't know if you've ever ordered Olive Garden's chicken marsala but it is SO GOOD. Definitely one of my favorites. I figured I'd give this recipe a try one night for dinner. Mainly because I needed a new recipe for the week & because Chris will eat anything I make, he's not picky (love that about him!) 

I am sharing this recipe with you because it was delicious and it tasted just like Olive Garden's and was probably less than a fourth of the price to make. (Chris wanted me to make it again...the day after! It was that good.) I think you should make it. [sorry...I don't have a picture.]

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 C. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil/veg. oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 C. sliced fresh mushrooms

1/4 C. fresh chopped parsley OR 1 tbsp. parsley flakes

1/2 C. marsala cooking wine OR 1/2 C. chicken broth

*Hot cooked angel hair pasta is desired*

(at Olive Garden they serve the chicken with potatoes...but we always would ask them to substitute for angel hair pasta...I like it better.)

Directions:

1. Between sheets of wax paper, flatten chicken breasts to about 1/4 in. thickness. 

2. In shallow dish mix flour, salt & pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture, shake off excess flour.

3. In skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic, mushrooms and parsley in oil for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Add chicken to skillet. Cook about 8 minutes, turning once until brown. Add wine.

5. If you're making it with pasta, you can start cooking the pasta now

6. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Serve with pasta.

Side notes:

-I used extra cooking wine because I like extra sauce for my noodles. I used about 1/4 C. extra and it still wasn't enough because it gets soaked up in the chicken. Next time I'll probably use 1/2 C. extra.

-I used the cooking wine, not the chicken broth. I was nervous cooking with the cooking wine at first because I had never used it before and it says "14% alcohol content" right on the front of the bottle. BUT when you cook with it the alcohol is cooked right out.

-I also didn't know where to find the cooking wine at the grocery store, so for your convenience I will tell you....its by the salad dressing :)

Let me know if you make it & what you think. Next time I want to go all out & make this and these too :)