Recipe the first...

Well, here I sit.... stuffed...

Yep, I cooked Jenn's recipe tonight and the short story is that Vicky and I loved it.

For those with short attention spans, here it is:


Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala Sauce
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, each breast cut crosswise into 3 pieces (I just cut the chicken into cubes usually)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons butter, divided
/4 cup chopped onion ( I use a whole small onion)
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced (I generally quarter them instead of slice them, they hold up better when cooking)
2 tablespoons minced garlic - Yah right, just 2 T...I don't think so. I use 3 med cloves minced
1 cup dry Marsala wine (if you can't find Marsala wine, use a dry white. If you don't cook with wine, use chicken broth or stock)
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
12 ounces dried fettuccine

Vicky always gets home later than me, so I was able to start before she even left work. Oh, I took a minute to IM Jenn and say, "Wish me luck!" You see, new recipes scare me. I'm so afraid of screwing up... well, all the time...

So, I started.

I quartered the mushrooms. Then, I chopped up one small, white onion. Onions usually really bother me but this one didn't. I don't know if white onions are, somehow, less painful but I lucked out. I cut the chicken approximately into cubes - I hate precision in cooking - and my chopping was ready.

Pulling out our largest sauce pan, I put it under a high heat and waited. Remember the old phrase - Hot Pan, Cold Oil, Food Don't Stick. Once the pan was hot, I poured in some olive oil. And once that started smoking, I put in the chicken.

And it stuck - of course. But, oh well. I decided that the stuff stuck to the pan would make for a better sauce. I seasoned and browned the meat and set that aside. Then, I used two tablespoons of butter in the pan and, with that melted, tossed in the onions. As much as I hate chopping onions, I love cooking with onions. They fill the house with such a rich aroma - and the butter only helped. Once those were carmelizing, I tossed in the mountain of mushrooms! This recipe has some serious fungus!

Of course, I couldn't skimp on the garlic. I love garlic! I tossed in two heaping scoops! After about 10-15 minutes, it was really starting to look and smell good.

I'd gone out of my way not to substitute too much. I even found Marsala wine and, of course, poured in well more than a cup of the stuff! Yum! Instead of using dijon mustard, I cheated with some regular honey mustard we had lying around the house. That wasn't bad at all, by the way. And the cheese - oh the cheese.... YUM!

Of course, after that, I just had to cook the paste: Garlic Fettucini! (I nearly typed Fatuccini, which might have been more accurate considering how much I ate!)

I could have tossed the pasta with butter or with the sauce... I did both! I tossed it with butter AND the sauce and I think it tasted better for it!

We were so hungry, I'm ashamed to say we ate it without the parsley! Oh well, maybe next time. It was absolutely decadent, very rich, and we ate far too much.

My thanks to Jenn.

If anyone reading tries it out, let me know what you thought.