Servings: 2
Source: Fine Cooking Dec 2000/Jan 2001 last page
Chicken Marsala-a classic chicken cutlet preparation- is a main dish that’s ready literally in minutes. And while I’ve always liked chicken Marsala well enough — the cutlets get coated lightly with flour, sautéed, and the pan is deglazed with Marsala wine to make a sauce — it sometimes feels a little too one-dimensional. To jazz up this classic dish, I’ve added pancetta and a little cream. Both are quick additions, but they result in a richer, more deeply flavored dish.
You can buy packaged skinless, boneless chicken breasts that are already sliced very thin. If you don’t see any in the butcher’s case, ask the butcher to slice the chicken breasts for you. I often ask at supermarkets, and it’s never been a problem. (Of course, you can slice the chicken breasts yourself, but it will take you a few minutes.)
Pancetta is Italian bacon that, unlike American bacon, is not smoked. You used to have to go to an Italian deli or a specialty food store to find pancetta, but now it’s available in most supermarket delis. If you don’t see it, ask for it. I like to buy a thick slice and dice it myself, but sometimes you’ll find already packaged pancetta sliced very thin. That will work fine, too, and it will cook even faster.
After frying the pancetta, reserve the fat to cook the chicken breasts in — another flavor boost. And don’t forget to season the chicken before you flour it. Because the pancetta adds its own salty flavor, go light on the salt, but use ample freshly ground black pepper.
For the quickest dinner, serve the chicken with sautéed spinach and crusty bread. It’s also great with mashed potatoes and green beans blanched and then sautéed until browned in spots.
You can buy thin cutlets or ask your supermarket butcher to cut some for you. This recipe is easily doubled, but you’ll likely need to cook the chicken in batches.
Ingredients
Olive oil
2 oz. pancetta (about a ¼-inch thick slice), cut into a ¼-inch dice
Flour for dredging (about ½ cup)
4 thin chicken breast cutlets, about ½ lb. total
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper, preferably on the coarse side
½ cup dry Marsala wine
2 to 4 Tbs. heavy cream
Minced fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Directions
Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and set it over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until just crisp and lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon – leave the fat in the pan – and set aside.
Put the flour on a plate. Pat the cutlets dry. Season them on both sides lightly with salt and amply with pepper. Heat the skillet with the pancetta fat over medium high. Add more olive oil, if needed, to get about 2 Tbs. fat in the pan.
When the fat is hot, dredge a cutlet through the flour on both sides. Shake off the excess flour and immediately put the cutlet in the pan. Do the same with as many cutlets as will fit in the pan without touching. Sauté the cutlets, turning once, until browned on both sides; if thin, they should cook through in just a few minutes total. Transfer the cooked cutlets to a plate and continue sautéing the rest, adding more oil if necessary. Transfer these to the plate as well.
Pour off the excess fat. With the pan over medium-high heat, add the Marsala and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the Marsala is reduced by about a quarter. Stir in the cream and boil until you get a nicely thickened sauce. Return the chicken and pancetta to the pan and turn the cutlets over to coat. Let them reheat for 30 seconds to 1 min. Serve with the sauce and a sprinkling of parsley, if you like.