Chicken Marsala with Shiitake Mushrooms

Last night, I was undecided as to what I wanted to eat until about 6:00pm, then I had a deep craving for chicken or veal Marsala. I didn't have any chicken thawed, and no veal at all, so I had to make a run to market to see what I could get. The big supermarket did not have good prices on chicken or veal, so I went to a smaller store down the road, and found a huge boneless breast on sale. I also grabbed a bit of Pancetta because I wanted use the fat rendered from that meat to help cook the chicken and mushrooms. I also got a little bit of Shitake musrhooms instead of Crimini because I love Shitakes. I had bottle of Marsala wine I got the other night when I made Osso Buco. As it turned out, served over a bed of linguini, I was very pleased and thoroughly enjoyed how tender and rich the chicken came out. Bon Appetite!

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Poor Man's Osso Buco

I actually like making this dish, I say poor man's Osso Buco because I use beef shanks instead of veal. I can find nice meaty beef shanks more easily and for a lot less than veal shanks in at the local markets where I shop. I first leaned how to make this wonderfully braised meat at Trax Restaurant from Chef Waxman, he makes an awesome Osso Buco.

Osso Buco is a traditional northern Itallan dish and usually served with risotto and also called Ossobuco alla milanese, for it's Milanese origin. They say it means "hole in the bone" or "hole of bone" I don't know what the literal translations is but I figure it's not specific to only veal shanks. For me, this is an evolving dish and I like to try variations on traditional recipes. I think you have to have an acquired taste for Osso Buco, braised meat is not for everyone. The payoff is suppose to be the marrow in the center of the bone, but I've never actually dug into that precious place. I'm not a huge fan of risotto, so I will serve it with roasted golden yukons.

As with a lot of great dishes, much of the work is in the preparation before anything ever gets cooked. I love watching all these cooking shows and they have all the stuff already prepared so all they do is add the ingredients as they need them. So I chopped the vegetables into bite sized pieces which include the trinity of celery, carrots and onions.

I found a couple of nice beef shanks as a starting point. I seasoned the shanks with coarse kosher salt and pepper and dredged them in flour and patted them off before adding them to a big hot skillet with olive oil. I can't help myself so I had to season the flour with a few spices including garlic salt, paprika, pepper, and little herb rub mixture that contains rosemary, thyme, marjoram, tarragon and lavender. I placed the coated shanks in large, hot skillet with some oil.

After browning the meat on both sides, I took the shanks out and placed them on a cooking sheet. Returning to the skillet I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, the pan is pretty hot by now so I add the onion, celery and carrots. I got the mirepoix going now, veggies have got a good sweat going on and the all the flavors are melding together. I added some Marsala wine to deglaze the pan and get all the brown goodies on the bottom of the left from the shanks. After the mirepoix gets that nice color, I add the shanks back to the skillet and add about a cup of chicken stock (I also try to keep at least a gallon of homemade chicken stock in my refrigerator or freezer). I brought the mixture up to temperature covered and placed it in the oven at 350º.

I also made a Gremolada to Gremolata to garnish the finished dish, made with parsley, garlic and lemon rind season with a touch of salt and pepper.

After about 2 hours the house was full of the wonder aroma of the dish, and the final product was well worth the effort. I friend Will and I enjoyed every last bite, and even got the succulent marrow out of the bone.



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