chicken marsala

This was a request from my friend Ben. It is really easy and tastes great. You'll get tons of compliments. Serve it with veggies and roasted potatoes or on top of spaghetti tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese (the good stuff, please -- no green cans). This recipe comes courtesy of Cooks' Illustrated Magazine. If you have never checked out that magazine, you should -- it is a wonderful resource.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 ounces each)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
table salt
ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 ounces pancetta (about 3 slices), cut into pieces 1 inch long and 1/8 inch wide
8 ounces white mushrooms , sliced (about 2 cups)
1 medium clove garlic , minced (about 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 1/2 cups marsala wine (sweet)
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 small lemon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces, softened
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place large heatproof dinner plate on oven rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees. Heat 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until very hot (you can hold your hand 2 inches above pan surface for 3 to 4 seconds), about 3 minutes. Pat chicken breasts dry. Meanwhile, place flour in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Season both sides of chicken cutlets with salt and pepper; working one piece at a time, coat both sides with flour. Lift breast from tapered end and shake to remove excess flour; set aside. Add oil to hot skillet and heat until shimmering. Place floured cutlets in single layer in skillet and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, flip cutlets and cook on second side until golden brown and meat feels firm when pressed with finger, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to heated plate and return plate to oven.

2. Return skillet to low heat and add pancetta; sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits until pancetta is brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel--lined plate. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high; sauté, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, and cooked pancetta; sauté while stirring until tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute. Off heat, add Marsala; return pan to high heat and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from pan bottom, until sauce is slightly syrupy and reduced to about 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. Off heat, add lemon juice and any accumulated juices from chicken; whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

tortellini in brodo cremoso

Another of my wife's favorites. The combination of cream, parmesan, and nutmeg is reminiscent of northern Italy. It's simple but satisfying. Serves 4-6.

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (homemade or swanson organic)
2 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
2 cups dried tortellini (barilla brand - any variety)
1/4 tsp of freshly ground nutmeg
fresh black pepper and grated parmesan cheese to taste

1. In a 3-4 quart saucepan, bring the broth, cream, and bay leaves to a boil. Reduce heat so that the broth is just simmering.

2. Add the dried tortellini. Boil for 10 minutes (according to package directions).

3. Off the heat, add the nutmeg. Stir.

4. Serve in soup bowls with pepper and cheese to taste.

If you want a creamier soup, you can either increase the ratio of cream to broth (up to 1/2 and 1/2) or add a slurry of 1 TB cornstarch in a bit of water about one minute before the pasta is done.

mulled wine cranberry sauce

Tried changing some things up for Thanksgiving. This struck me as a good idea. The end result was spectacular!

3 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup red wine (chianti, merlot, or pinot noir -- nothing oak-aged)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes (make sure all alcohol is cooked off). Remove the cinnamon stick, pour into a heat-proof bowl, and let cool to room temperature. It will thicken as it cools.

Serve with turkey (what else?), duck, or roast beef.

no-knead bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

spiced pumpkin bread

I live in Florida, where we only have two seasons: hot and not-quite-as-hot. While my friends and family who live north of the Mason-Dixon line are enjoying fall foliage and beautiful autumnal colors, I am sweating in 85 degree heat. To remind myself that fall is actually here, I make this quick bread. It does the trick.

This recipe can easily be turned into muffins (approx. 24) -- just reduce the baking time to about 35 minutes.

1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups lightly packed brown sugar
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling -- that has sugar/spices already in it)
2/3 c water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together to ensure that they are evenly distributed. Set aside.

In a blender, mix the pumpkin, sugars, water, vanilla, and eggs. While the blender is running, drizzle in the oil. Pour this on top of the dry ingredients, making sure to scrape out as much of the pumpkin mixture as possible.

Gently fold the wet into the dry until no more streaks of flour are present. Be careful not to overmix, as this will toughen your final product. Split the batter into two greased 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pans (9x5 will work in pinch, but your loafs will be shorter). Bake for one hour. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes on a rack. Remove the loaves from their pans and allow to cool for another 45 minutes.

If desired, drizzle the loaves with an icing made of 1 cup of confectioner's sugar and 3 tablespoons of real maple syrup. Alternatively, you could leave out all of the spices but the nutmeg and add one cup of chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) and 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter for a chocolate-studded pumpkin nut bread.

Enjoy!