Chicken Marsala

So, we were fortunate enough to be one of the hosts for our church college ministry's Winter Formal Progressive Dinner.  Each year before the kids head home for Christmas they do this dinner and gift exchange.  I was the designated "food allergy" house.  Thanks to the help of my daughter, her boyfriend, and a good friend of mine, we fed 8 young adults and ourselves a delicious meal.

My wonderful husband was gracious enough to get my double ovens installed prior to the meal, which served quite nicely as warming drawers so we were able to plate the food just like at a restaurant and feed everyone all together.  Since this was a progressive dinner, we only had to worry about the entree and we went all out.

I decided to go with my husbands favorite, Chicken Marsala.  Sides included a Lemon Risotto and Balsamic Glazed Baby Carrots.  I am posting each recipe separately for ease of cataloguing on the blog.

Chicken Marsala is one of those dishes that a lot of people order when they go out, but if you have gluten or dairy allergy, ordering this is no longer an option.  You can very easily make this dish both gluten and dairy free, which is what I did.  For those lucky people without food allergies, you can use all purpose flour, butter and heavy cream in this recipe instead of GF flour, margarine and coconut milk.

Chicken Marsala
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved and pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
1/4 cup GF flour blend
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
6 Tbsp Dairy Free Margarine
3 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 pound mushrooms of choice, chopped (I used baby bellas, oyster and a chef's blend of 4 additional varieties)
1/4 pound pancetta, cubed
1/2 cup thin sliced leeks
1 tsp minced garlic
1 cup Marsala cooking wine
1 cup low sodium GF chicken broth
2 Tbsp coconut milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place flour, italian seasoning, 1 tsp sea salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a gallon size ziploc bag.  Seal bag and shake contents to blend.  Season chicken breasts lightly with salt and pepper.  Add to the ziploc bag, seal and shake to coat chicken.

Preheat olive oil in a frying pan. Add chicken breasts and fry until golden brown on each side (about 4 minutes per side).  remove from oil an set aside.  Drain oil from pan, reserving as much of the brown bits as possible.  Return to stove and add pancetta to pan.  Cook until brown and slightly crisp.  Add butter to pan.  Saute leeks and garlic until leeks are softened, about 2 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms start to give up their moisture and are reduced.  Add Marsala and deglaze pan.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce temperature to low.  Add sage and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened.  Stir cream into sauce to finish it.  Add chicken back into sauce to warm and coat for about 5 minutes.  Serve with lemon risotto.  Makes 4 servings.