I have discussed the combination of sweet and savory often in my blog and I believe that Chicken Marsala is a great savory dish that has a hint of sweetness.  The dish is offset with the saltiness of the prosciutto, which I believe adds to the depth of the dish.

Since I was very young, every time I went to New York to visit family we would go to the same Italian restaurant in Queens.  Everyone at the restaurant knows my family, they know what we like to eat and they know what we like to drink.  Initially my tastes were very simple, I liked to drink coke and eat Angel Hair pasta with “butter sauce.”  The first time I decided to branch out from my normal order, I started small and tried the lasagne.  Over the years, I think I have had almost every item on the menu, but the first time I tried the Veal Marsala I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the dish.  I decided that I wanted to try and make the dish myself but soon found that veal was harder to find than I thought, but chicken is always easy to find.  I found a great recipe and decided to try it out with a few tweaks.

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced and diced
8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Recipe

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 inch think.  Sometimes you can find already thinly sliced breasts at the grocery store, which saves some mess.  After you have gotten the chicken to the right shape and size, mix the flour, salt and pepper into a pan and dredge the chicken breasts in the flour mixture.  Add the olive oil to the pan and heat at a medium-high temperature.  Once at the right temperature add the dredged chicken and cook the chicken on both sides for about five minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.  You may have to cook the chicken in batches so that you do not over crowd the pan.  Once you have finished cooking the chicken, remove the chicken from the pan and add the sliced prosciutto to the pan and render some of the fat.  Bring the heat down to a medium temperature.  Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until all the mushrooms have soaked up the pan drippings and fat and cook until browned and soft.  Add the marsala wine and cook until the wine has cooked out the alcohol.  Add the chicken stock and cook to a simmer and reduce the sauce slightly.  Stir in the butter.  Salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken back to the pan and warm the chicken through.  Sprinkle the chopped parsley to serve.

I served the dish with sautéed spinach and garlic and basmati rice.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did!