This past weekend I got to go home which was awesome. I was stoked not only to see my family, but because I was going to be able to cook for my parents. My kitchen back home isn't huge, but it's definitely better than the rabbit hole I cook in at school.
I found this recipe about a month ago. I've been salivating over it for weeks, but I told myself I wouldn't try it until I was home. The original recipe calls for Madeira wine, which I discovered at my favorite steakhouse, but my local grocery store didn't have it. I substituted a Chianti with excellent results. Though I loathe her, Ina Garten makes a good point: "Never cook with wine you wouldn't drink." I would definitely drink a Chianti, so I think it's definitely something I'll be cooking with in the future.
Chicken Maderia
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 shallot (you could use more, but my father isn't huge on shallots)
- 4 baby portobello mushrooms, thinly chopped (you can add more mushrooms if you like, but I dislike mushrooms a lot)
- About a teaspoon of salt
- 2 tbsp of heavy cream
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 1 1/2 cup of Madeira wine (again, I substituted a Chianti with delicious results)
- 1 tbsp of flour
- 3 cups cooked penne rigate
- 3 thin chicken breasts
Directions
First off, I apologize for not having any photos. I left my camera at school so I had no way to document this culinary triumph. I'll make it again another time and update.
For now, start by heating up a frying pan to medium heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the pan, but we don't want an ocean or anything.
While your pan is heating up, start cooking your pasta. Follow the instructions on the package. If they have an 'al dente' time, follow that. The heat from the sauce and chicken will finish up the pasta once we combine everything at the end. DO NOT forget to salt your water. It's one of the few sins that you can commit in cooking, in my opinion.
Season BOTH sides of your chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then place then in the pan. They should take about 4-5 minutes on each side. They should brown up nicely and smell pretty good. Once they're cooked, remove the pan from the heat and set the chicken on a plate.
In a second pan, start sauteing your garlic and the shallots in one tablespoon of the butter. You want them to start sweating, but you don't want to brown them, so about a minute or two should be good.
Add your mushrooms. Again, my family isn't big on cooked mushrooms so I didn't add very many. However, you can add as many as you like. Traditionally, this has a combination of baby portobellos and shitakes.
Let the mushrooms mixture cook until the mushrooms start to reduce and turn brown. The little bits will start sticking to the bottom. This is good.
Add the wine SLOWLY to the pan. Now, originally I was only supposed to add a cup of wine. I like wine. The cup quickly become a cup and a half, which I'm not ashamed of. Throw in the second tablespoon of butter. If it happens to be a bit more, no worries. It just makes the sauce more succulent, so no harm done. Let the wine simmer with the mushrooms, stirring occasionally until the wine reduces, roughly 20-25 minutes.
While your sauce is cooking, let's cut up our chicken. I took it and diced it into small, bite-sized pieces. You are more than welcome to slice it into strips, however I like getting a bit of chicken with every bite.
Once the wine is reduced, add in the heavy cream, salt and pepper. Simmer this for about 5 minutes.
The next step is a bit tricky, mostly because it depends on personal preference. SLOWLY stir in your flour a little bit at a time. The amount of flour you add will dictate how thick your sauce becomes. Personally, I like thicker sauces so it sticks to the pasta. I also like the thicker sauce because that allows me to add in the next step, which is COMPLETELY optional.
If your sauce becomes too thick, either by accident or personal preference, you can add in more wine, bit by bit. I like a thick sauce, but pasta doesn't combine well with paste... Now this does result in a bit harsher flavor, but my family and I didn't mind in the least.
Let the sauce cook for a further minute, while stirring constantly. We don't want the sauce to burn or remain stagnant. Once your sauce is done, remove from the heat.
Now, your pasta should have finished somewhere while you were letting your wine simmer. Once it's drained, throw it back into the pot you cooked it in. Add your cut chicken to the cause, stir a few times, then add the sauce to the pasta. Toss to coat.
Done! I personally serve this with warm, thick-cut sourdough with lots of butter. The bread makes an excellent mop for the leftover sauce on your plate or bowl or whatever you serve this in. Really it just gives me an excuse to eat bread and butter and some more wine.
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