Saucy Chicken Marsala

I am on to a new adventure in my life, a new job!  It has been a whirlwind since I applied for the job about a month ago, mainly because the office is about an hour from my home through Tampa traffic.  I am doing training now, but when I "graduate" the first week in April, I will be able to work from home, I can't wait.  The worse part of this training is how much I miss my puppies and my KITCHEN!  Luckily, a couple of weeks ago, it was so cold in Florida, the only thing I wanted to do was stay inside and cook.  So, in the freezer are some lasagnas, chicken cordon bleus, meatballs, egg rolls and some soups and stews.  All I have to do is take them out the night before, let them thaw in the fridge, and then the first one home, just has to pop them in the oven.  Yesterday, my training was in the afternoon, so I had the morning to play in the kitchen.  I wanted to make one of my all time favorite comfort foods, Chicken Marsala!  It is so easy, so yummy and so much better when it sits in the fridge for a couple of hours. 

After walking the puppies, I gathered up all my ingredients, which for this recipe are very few: of course butter and Marsala.



I had some frozen cornish game hen stock, which I popped in a bowl and thawed in the microwave.


I did not have a lot of time, so I took some short cuts, nothing drastic:)  Instead of pounding the chicken, I filleted it.  Using a sharp knife, I cut the chicken in half, then just pounded out the thicker parts.  This saves some time and is perfect if you have larger pieces.   I also had some pre-sliced mushrooms in the fridge, not my favorite ones to use, but they sure can be a time saver!

After I had everything prepped, I put some flour in a baggie, put the chicken breast in, and gave them a good shake.  Using disposable baggies can be a real timesaver for clean up!  I don't know about you, but when I dredge chicken in flour in a shallow bowl, not only does the counter get floured, but so do I! 

I melted some butter in my skillet and lightly browned the floured chicken over medium heat until golden brown.  It takes a little longer to brown the chicken over a lower heat, but this way, I do not take the chance of burning the chicken or the butter.  As the chicken pieces browned, I removed them to my casserole, layering them slightly.  Then I added more butter and sauted the sliced mushrooms for a couple of minutes.  When they were done, I sprinkled them around the chicken.  I then poured in a little of the Marsala and deglazed the pan.  I turned the heat up slightly and poured in the remaining wine and the hen stock, bringing in all to a slow boil.  I reduced the heat and let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes.  What a wonderful aroma it is!

I poured all the sauce over the chicken, let it cool for awhile then covered the pan with foil and popped it in the fridge.  I printed quick instructions for the interim chef (my hubby) who would get home before me and off to work I went.  I spent most of my training time day dreaming about dinner and it was worth it.  After a long commute home in the dark, in and out of pouring rain, I was greeted at the door by 2 beautiful labs, one wonderful hubby with a big glass of wine and the aroma of the baking chicken.  Life is good!  Tonight for dinner is lasagna and warm French bread.  Guess what I will be day dreaming about during class!

Saucy Chicken Marsala

4 chicken breast -- skinned and boned
1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup mushroom -- sliced

1 1/2 cups marsala wine

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup fontina or mozzarella cheese -- shredded

1/2 cup parmesan cheese -- grated

Place chicken between 2 sheets of wax paper; flatten to 1/8 inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Dredge chicken lightly in flour. Place 4 pieces at a time in 2 tbsp melted butter in a large skillet; cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until chicken is golden brown. Places chicken in a lightly-greased 13x9 inch baking pan, overlapping edges. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, adding 2 tbsp butter. Reserve drippings. Sauté mushrooms in remaining butter. Sprinkle evenly over chicken. Stir wine and chicken broth into pan drippings in skillet. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon sauce evenly over the chicken. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Combine cheeses and sprinkle over chicken. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

PAMA Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake Perfect for Valentine's Day

First thing I have to say, I GAINED 5 POUNDS JUST MAKING THIS CHEESECAKE!!!!  I must admit, it was worth it and along the way, I discovered a new and very healthy snack, very high in antioxidant.  I'll tell you about that in just a minute, but first the Cheesecake, incredible.

We have a friend whose birthday is on Valentine's Day.  Last week her husband asked us to join them to celebrate by going out to dinner.  Now, I have always made it a point to avoid restaurants on Valentine's Day.  It is always too crowded, the servers are way too stressed and we always end up paying way more than we expect.  I would much rather have a quite dinner at home.  Since I had already planned our dinner for Sunday night, just the two of us (we had weekend guest last year for Valentine's Day) I invited them over to celebrate the night before.  Dinner was an easy choice.  We would begin the evening with Yukon Gold Vichyssoise with Crème Fraîche Potato Salad and Leek Vinaigrette.  For our main course, Rack of Lamb with Herb Crust, Asparagus tossed with Lemon Vinaigrette and a side of Brown Rice and homemade French Bread.  This is one of my favorite menus and it was perfect for our guest since I they had mentioned over the past couple of years that they like lamb and vichyssoise.  I was stumped on the dessert.  Of course, it had to be chocolate, I mean, it is Valentine's Day Weekend!  I scoured the Internet, but nothing was catching my attention.  Then I noticed the bottle of PAMA sample I had been sent last week.  I went to their website, but nothing there attracted my attention.  So off to the Internet I went to try to find a chocolate, pomegranate dessert.  I found a Cheesecake, perfect, I love Cheesecake!  Thanks Jessica from How Sweet It Is!

The best part, I had most of the ingredients except the Oreos, so I sent my pirate son off to the store to pilfer me some.  OK, I really did not send him, he is busy at FSU Law School, this is a picture from his 21st Birthday Party.  We had a Pirate Party and sent him on a scavenger hunt around town; you should have seen some of the looks he and his entourage received:-)  He was a good sport, but was not to happy that his last clue was on the bottom of our very chilly pool.

Sorry, I got off track, back to the cheesecake.....I made the crust last night, 25 Oreos went to the food processor with the melted butter, and at least 10 went into my tummy, with milk, of course!  I put it in the fridge and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. 
This morning after taking the puppies on a very chilly walk on the beach, I felt the need to turn the oven on, so I started the cake. 

I blended all the cake ingredients with my KitchenAid, and then poured them over the chilled crust.  Into the oven it went for 45 minutes.  I could not resist licking the beaters, oh boy how I love cheesecake!  While the cheesecake was in the oven, I did a little research on how to keep a cheesecake from cracking or falling.  One site suggested using an instant read thermometer since over baking will cause the cake to crack.  They said, when the internal temperature reaches 150, the cheesecake is done.  The only problem, my thermometer left a pretty big hole in the center of the cake, no worries, it was getting another layer, but I probably will not try that method again.  On lots of other sites, they suggested leaving the cake in the oven after it is baked.  You are to turn the oven off, leave the door open and let it cool for 30 minutes.  This helps the cake to adjust slowly to the temperature in your kitchen, cooling it too quickly causes the cake to fall and split.  This sounded like a great idea since my oven was 350 and the temperature in our house was 68!  And it worked perfectly.

While the cake was cooling in the oven with the door open and the kitchen was snuggly warm, I cut into my pomegranates to see how they looked, they had been in the fridge for a couple of weeks. To my amazement, they were perfect. If you want to see an easy way to remove the arils, check out my Pomegranate Mixed Green Salad post.

I assembled all the ingredients for the ganache and heated the water in my double boiler.  Don't fret if you do not have a double boiler, you can improvise one with two sauce pans or a large pot of boiling water and a Pyrex bowl. Just make sure your upper pan does not touch the bottom of the under pan, since the result could be a counterproductive direct heat and scorch the chocolate. 

When the water in my bottom pan was at a low boil, I reduced the heat to medium and put in the chocolate chips. 

I stirred them constantly until they were melted, and then reduce the heat to low. 

 
 
 

Then added the PAMA and the heavy cream.

Stirring with my silicone whisk until all ingredients were incorporated.

I poured it over my cheesecake, smoothed it out and popped it in the fridge for 2 hours.  Of course, I had to lick the spoon, the ganache is so good!


After about 2 hours, I whipped the heavy cream with the sugar and the vanilla.


And spread the wonderful whipped cream over the cake using my off set spatula.  Of course I had to lick the beater and the spatula.  I love sweetened whipped cream.  Back in the fridge went the cake for about another 2 hours.

I prepared our dinner and baked some bread.  I have french bread down now, I will have to post about it soon.  Our friends arrived around 6:00, we had a great time and the cheesecake was a hit.  What a fun day of cooking and then sharing my creations with great friends.  Happy Birthday Phyllis!
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my new snack.  Pomegranate arils and mini dark chocolate chips, WHAT A COMBO!

PAMA Chocolate Ganache Cheesecake

Oreo Crust:
25 Oreo
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Cheesecake:
3 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons PAMA Liqueur
3 tablespoons flour
Chocolate Ganache:

1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons PAMA Liqueur

Whipped Cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pomegranate arils -- for garnish

Preheat oven to 350.

To make Oreo Crust, pulse Oreos in a food processor into crumbs.  With processor running pour melted butter into crumbs, continue running until well combined.  Press a spring form pan. Refrigerate while making cheesecake layer.

To make cheesecake, in an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar at medium speed until completely blended.  Reduce speed to low and add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Continue mixing on low speed until just incorporated. Add in 2 tablespoons PAMA liqueur and mix on low speed. Add in flour and mix until combined. Pour into springform pan and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes, or edges are until golden brown. When finished baking, turn off oven and leave the cake in the oven with door open for 30 minutes.  Remove and allow to finish cooling on counter while preparing the ganache.

To make chocolate ganache, add chocolate chips to a double boiler, over a low simmer, stir chips until melted, remove from heat. Add heavy cream and PAMA liqueur, stir until smooth.  Pour over cooled cake.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.

To make the whipped cream, add heavy cream, sugar and vanilla to electric mixer. Beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Spread on top of cheesecake. Refrigerate for another 2 hours.
Sprinkle pomegranate arils on top of cheesecake for garnish.

Mardi Gras Florida Style!

Last weekend was one of my dear friend's birthday, great reason for a party!  What better theme for a 40th Birthday Party than Mardi Gras, sorry, I cannot do all the black over the hill stuff!   I like things bright, fun and cheery, just like me.  But here was my problem, the friend I was having the birthday party for is the one who always decorates for my parties, she does an incredible job!  Our "partnership" always works out perfect, she decorates, I cook, she stays out of the kitchen, and I stay out of her table scapes!  We have had some great parties together, but for this one I was on my own.  I did enlist the help of my daughter and son in law, but they could not come till the afternoon of the party and I am way too impatient to wait that long to decorate.  So I did all I could before they came and then let Brie use her artistist touch to make everything look better while I finished in the kitchen. 

I decorated the house with a lot of flowers in the colors of Mardi Gras; Purple, Green and Gold (not sure why in the pictures the purple flowers look blue?)  And lots of masks and garland.

It was a beautiful evening for a party and we were all able to stay outside on the lanai.

We began the evening with crawfish, they were good and spicy.  Everyone had their choice of eating them as is, or dipping them in melted butter or cocktail sauce.  We could not convince anyone to "suck the heads out" even after a couple of beers.

We also had a raw oyster bar

Gordy and Rich could not shuck the oysters fast enough.  We were topping the oysters with Frozen Champagne Mignonette.  So easy to make and such a hit!  The recipe is below

Of course we had to toast to her birthday!

For dinner we had Shrimp Etouffee, Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya, Creole Rice and Mardi Gras Salad with Creole Mustard Dressing. For the Non-Spicy, a friend brought Mac and Cheese and I popped a ham in the oven.

For dessert, my daughter made the most incredible Chocolate Chip Cookies.  She used a recipe she found on Savory Sweet Life. 

Another friend brought brownies and a chocolate "to die for" cake.  Just in case we ran out of desserts, I made my old standby, Southern Comfort Cake.

Even our Cigar Store Indian got into the party spirit.

It was a fun party, even the puppies were exhausteded

Oysters with Frozen Champagne Mignonette

1/4 cup shallot
3/4 cup pickled ginger
1/2 cup champagne
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper
3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chives -- chopped

In a food processor, combine shallots, ginger, champagne, sugar, pepper, and vinegar. Puree on med-high speed one minute. Pour mixture into a pie plate and freeze several hours.

Clean and shuck oysters. Place them on a serving platter. Remove champagne mignonette from freezer, and scrape one teaspoon of mignonette onto each oyster.

Sprinkle each oyster with chopped chives. Serve immediately.

A Valentine's Day Tea

Valentine's Day is less than 2 weeks away, what a great theme for our Afternoon Tea today at Rolling Pin! We had a full class today, 18 wonderful students ready to have some fun!  I began the day by preparing Cherry and Pistachio Scones.  I love these scones probably because I love maraschino cherries and pistachios!  These scones are so easy to prepare, especially when I used a silicone mat to line my rolling surface and a silicone mat to line my baking sheet.   I combined the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter, I cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembled coarse crumbs. I squeezed the chopped cherries in a paper towel to get them as dry as possible, and then stirred them into the dry ingredients along with the chopped pistachios. I measured my milk into a 1 cup measuring cup, then whisked in the egg yolk.  I lightly floured the silicone mat I had ready on the counter and dumped the dry ingredients onto it.  I made a well in the middle and poured in half the milk mixture.  Using a bench scraper, I incorporated the liquid then made another well and add the rest of the milk.  I continued using the bench scraper until  the dry ingredients were moistened.  Then I gently kneaded the dough several times. I divided the dough in half and placed them on my silicone lined baking sheet.  I patted each half into a 6 inch round and using the bench scraper again, cut each round into 6 wedges, not separating them.  Barb, one of the wonderful Rolling Pin assistants brushed the scones with the egg whites and popped them in the oven. 

While the scones were in the oven, I prepared our Walnut and Cherry Brownies.  I used cherry candy oil instead of extract.  These oils are wonderful to use, much richer in flavor and highly concentrated.  They have a 3-1 ratio, meaning if your recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of extract, you will only need to use 1/3 teaspoon of oil.  I love all the flavors.   They come in, Pina Colada, Guava, Tropical Punch, Pineapple, Cherry, Grape, Strawberry, and Watermelon just to name a few.   Also, the bottles are smaller, so they are easier to store in my crowded kitchen!

The brownies were ready to go into the oven and scones were ready to come out.  While Barb, Theresa and MaryAnn plated and served the scones along with a cup of tea, I began assembling our first tea sandwich.  Today's selections were Deviled Ham and Pecan Tea Sandwiches, Herbed Vidalia Onion Tea Sandwiches and Chicken and Cherry Tea Sandwiches.  After I demonstrated how to assemble all three, I gave the students a break so they could begin their shopping and helped my great assistants make and plate all 3 choices.  It was a whirlwind 10 minutes!  By the time the students had made some of their purchases of cooking and baking supplies, the sandwiches were in front of their seats and ready to be enjoyed with another cup of Raspberry Tea.  At this time, I glanced up at the clock only to realize I was way behind schedule, we must have been having way too much fun!  I quickly mixed up the dough for our sugar cookies and popped it into the freezer and out of the oven came the brownies.  The dough was still sticky, but I was running out of time, so we had to continue on, sticky or not.  It actually became a great baking tip, if you rush the dough, your cookies will spread too quickly while baking.  Oh well, they were not beautiful, but at least they were yummy.  

While the sandwich dishes were being cleared, I demonstrated how easy it is to cut the brownies with a pizza cutter.  The secret is to line the pan with parchment paper, when cool, just lift it all out of the pan, place the brownies and parchment paper on a cutting board and slice with a pizza cutter, how easy is that!

Dessert was served, along with another cup of tea!   Not my prettiest plating, but they must have been good, there were none left!
Our next Afternoon Tea at Rolling Pin is Tuesday, February 16, which just happens to be Fat Tuesday.  What a perfect theme....

"A Mardi Gras Tea Party"

Pecan Scones

Bananas Foster Tea Sandwiches

New Orleans Muffuletta Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches
New Orleans Bread Pudding

If you are in the area, there are still 2 seats available, we'd love to have you!

Cherry Pistachio Scones

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup maraschino cherries -- drained and chopped
1/2 cup shelled pistachios -- chopped
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, separated
Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix well. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cherries and pistachios. In a small bowl, combine egg yolk and milk. Add to the dry ingredients, stir until dry ingredients are moistened. On a lightly floured surface, gently knead dough several times. Divide dough in half and pat each half into a 6 inch round. Place on baking sheet. Cut into 6 wedges, do not separate.
In a small bowl, beat egg white. Brush over top of scones.  Bake for 17 - 22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Deviled Ham and Pecan Tea Sandwiches


1/2 pound cooked ham -- cut into 1" pieces
1/2 medium onion -- quartered
3 large sweet gherkin
1/2 cup pecans -- toasted and cooled
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
16 slices white bread

Pulse all ingredients except bread in a food processor until finely chopped and combined well.
Spread ham mixture (1/4 cup per sandwich) between slices of bread. Discard crusts, then cut sandwiches into triangles.