Creamy Chicken Marsala

First off, I apologize for the craptastic picture above. I was too lazy to get my camera and just snapped this with my camera. It takes much better than it looks I promise.

Ingredients

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into cutlets
1 shallot, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup marsala wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp butter
Flour for dredging
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions

In large shallow skillet, pour enough olive oil to just coat bottom. Heat over medium heat. Season cutlet with salt and pepper. Dredge each cutlet into flour, tapping off excess. Fry each cutlet in the oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes each. Drain and set aside.

Once all the cutlets are cooked add shallots to pan and saute until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and saute for an additional minute. Pour wine into pan and scrape up brown bits. Let the wine reduce by half. Stir in chicken stock and heavy cream. Let thicken slightly, about 2-3 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted.

Add cutlets back to pan and warm thorough. Serve each cutlet with sauce on top.

Beef Burgundy

I first had a version of this dish at McGuire's Irish Pub (beware of the bathroom signs, read carefully!) in Destin, Florida while I was visiting a friend earlier this year. It was amazing...I'm pretty sure I got food drunk off of this dish instead of regular drunk off of the beers I was drinking. I was hell bent on recreating this when I got home and succeeded the first time about a month after my trip but it definitely needed some tweaking and finesse. This time I nailed it. You can easily make this in a dutch oven but I did a lot of the cooking head of time and put everything in a crock pot on low the morning of the day I wanted to serve it. Don't get hung up with what type of wine to use, I had a Merlot on hand so I used that, you could easily use a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Pinot Noir.


Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds of stew meat
1 package of bacon, sliced in 1 inch sections
1 pound of sliced mushrooms
1 yellow onion, rough chopped
8 oz of beef broth
8 oz of red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp flour

Directions
This first portion can be done up to a day ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator. In a large skillet, cook bacon pieces until crispy. Remove from pan and let drain on paper towels. Drain oil from pan. Place pan back over medium high heat, add meat and brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Add onions and mushrooms, cook until onions are golden brown and mushrooms have released their juices, about 12 minutes. Remove from pan and mix with beef and bacon.

In crock pot, whisk beef broth, wine, tomato paste and thyme together. Add in beef, bacon, onions and mushrooms to broth mixture. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Once cooking cycle is complete, remove all beef, bacon and vegetables from the crock pot. Pour remaining sauce in a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat. Let reduce by half. Mix flour with 4 tbsp of sauce and pour back into sauce pan, continue to cook until thickened slightly.

Prior to serving, bake a piece of puff pastry large enough to cover serving dish(es) at 400 degrees until golden brown. Serve beef with sauce in casserole dish or individual ramekins and top with puff pastry. (I cooked the pasty over top the casserole but the dish was too big to support the pasty...that explains the concave crust in the picture above. It still tastes delicious though!)

Citrus Sangria

We hosted a Twilight viewing party at our house a few weeks ago. Long story short, this is the only way my husband and some of our guy friends will watch the movie. I decided it would only be appropriate to have vampire themed food. The sangria filled the blood requirement and it was so good! If blood actually tasted like this sangria I'd be a vampire in a heartbeat.



Ingredients

2 bottles of red wine (I used Yellow Tail Merlot)
2 limes, sliced
2 lemons, sliced
2 oranges, sliced
1/2 cup of simple syrup
ice

Directions
Mix all the ingredients together in a large pitcher and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Garnish each glass of sangria with fruit from the pitcher.