Invite this chicken to your family gathering
THIS IS a double-duty recipe as it can be made in 20 minutes using thinly sliced chicken escalopes or the sauce can be made and poured over ‘poach-roasted’ chicken breasts to go on a hot tray. I use mixed mushrooms but you can use whatever you have to hand. Delicious with garlic mash, plain rice and green beans or broccoli.
Serves four
INGREDIENTS
4 x skin-on chicken breast fillets or 8 thin escalopes Flour for dredging
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
2-3 banana shallots peeled and sliced
1-2 sprigs oregano
500g mixed mushrooms, washed, cleaned and sliced as appropriate.
2 garlic cloves finely minced
150ml Kedem marsala cooking wine
250ml chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp cornflour or Alpro parev cream
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
METHOD
Either dredge the escalopes in some flour, heat a frying pan over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil and cook for four minutes each side until golden and remove to a plate; or pre-heat the oven to 200°C, place the chicken breasts skinside-up in an ovenproof dish and add chicken stock or water to come halfway up the side of the chicken. Season lightly and open roast for 35-45 minutes depending on size. Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid and place into a clean ovenproof dish or foil tray.
Add another tbsp or so of oil to the pan and add the sliced shallots along with the oregano and sauté until translucent.
Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes to evaporate the moisture from them and then add the garlic.
Sprinkle in a little flour to absorb the oil and then stir in the marsala, giving the bottom of the pan a good scrape with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan.
Add the chicken stock and black pepper and then let the sauce bubble away for a few minutes to reduce. If the sauce is too thin you can add a little cornflour or Alpro soya cream to thicken.
At this point either add the chicken escalopes back into the pan to heat through for around 8-10 minutes or pour the sauce over the chicken breasts ready for reheating.
When ready to serve, garnish with a good sprinkling of finely chopped parsley.