I Have It My Way...

Chicken Marsala


Over the years dining out, I would try chicken marsala at different restaurants and the end result was always being very disappointed. One, it was so salty, I couldn't eat it because there was too much prosciutto ham in it that it just ruined the dish. And two, wasted my money countless times. So I gave up with having chicken marsala out to eat. Now I have it my way...... I control how much prosciutto to put in, and with the right amount it adds a wonderful flavor without making the dish salty. This has become one of our favorite dishes and I make it quite often. The hubby always puts in requests for this.

For those of you who might not know what prosciutto ham is, it's an aged dry-cured ham usually sliced very thin and served without cooking, like as an appetizer with melon that you may find on an Italian restaurant's menu. That's also good. I didn't take a picture. Sorry. You can find it the deli department at your local grocery. Some recipes don't call for the ham, but I like it with it for the flavor that it brings to this dish. I use the below recipe as my guide and always add more/less of the wine/chicken stock and adjust to my liking. That also goes for the salt and pepper as well.

Recipe

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
8 ounces crimini or porcini mushrooms, stemmed and halved
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them; pound with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/4-inch thick.

Put some flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly.

Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet. When the oil is nice and hot, dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Slip the cutlets into the pan and fry for 5 minutes on each side until golden, turning once – do this in batches if the pieces don't fit comfortably in the pan. Remove the chicken to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.

Lower the heat to medium and add the prosciutto to the drippings in the pan, saute for 1 minute to render out some of the fat. Now, add the mushrooms and saute until they are nicely browned and their moisture has evaporated, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Pour the Marsala in the pan and boil down for a few seconds to cook out the alcohol. Add the chicken stock and simmer for a minute to reduce the sauce slightly. Stir in the butter and return the chicken to the pan; simmer gently for 1 minute to heat the chicken through. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

Recipe from Tyler Florence, The Food Network

M.I.A.

I know I've been MIA for a while. I was sort of taking a break, but ended up being longer than expected, which happens to all of us. There were some turn of events that took place and have kept me away from blogging. Just got back from a mini vacation which was really needed and now maybe I can get back on track.

While my son was home for a weekend from college, his #1 request for dessert and so simple to make is Chocolate Eclair Pie. He just absolutely loves it!!!! He literally can eat the whole pan to himself and that's no joke! With Memorial Day weekend this weekend, this makes a wonderful dessert for this time of year.

Chocolate Eclair Pie


3 cups milk
2 pkgs (small) instant french vanilla pudding
1 12 oz cool whip
1 box graham crackers


Chocolate Topping

¼ cup evap. milk
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat milk and pudding. Let sit and thicken a few minutes then fold in cool whip. In a 9x12" pan make a single layer of crackers. Pour 1/2 of pudding mixture onto crackers and spread evenly. Place another layer of crackers, then the rest of the pudding mixture, then top with a layer of crackers.

In a saucepan, mix all other ingredients (evap. milk, etc). Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, add vanilla. Pour over graham crackers and spread evenly to cover. Cover and refrig, 8 hours.

What To Do With Left Over Sour Cream....

Make a Pound Cake

(Thanks to "Mr. Critic" for the jagged cut)

I had some left over sour cream that I had in the refrigerator that I needed to use up instead of throwing out in the trash. I knew I wanted to make a pound cake, but I didn't have a particular recipe in mind. I'm sure I could of found one in one of my cooks books, but I went to the internet instead. Much faster route than flipping through pages. There were some recipes calling for six eggs and I thought that was too much, so I went for one calling for just three eggs. I made a mistake and added too much sour cream. A 1/2 cup too much. And at that point, there was not turning back. So I continued on. So I said to myself, if it's a failure in the trash it goes. If it's good, it will go. The mistake turned in my favor! I love when that happens! So here it is.

RECIPE

1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs
1/4 tsp. baking soda


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 8x4 inch loaf pan.

Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and eggs. Add dry ingredients and until all combined. Pour into pan.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes or more until toothpick comes out clean.

Great Finger Food Appetizer

Zucchini Squares


I was invited to my cousin's house for dinner and I had brought these appetizers. They are very easy and quick to make. Thank you Josie and Mark for dinner. It was great. Dinner was delicious!!


INGREDIENTS

3 c. grated, unpeeled zucchini
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 c. oil
3 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. salt ( you could less if you'd like, because of cheese)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 c. biscuit mix (Bisquick)
4 eggs, beaten

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Mix until all is combined. Pour into a greased 9x9 square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Breakfast Heaven....

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Sourdough Pancakes

Breakfast has always been a favorite meal of mine. I just love breakfast. I can have it any time of day. Not just in the morning. Lunch or dinner will suit me just fine. And, I especially love breakfast when we are on vacation. When you add chocolate into the mix, I'm just in Heaven.

Several months ago I started a sourdough starter. I just love the tanginess flavor that it adds to recipes and making a starter from scratch was certainly out of my element. I have experimented with a couple of recipes for pancakes and this one finally made it to post. If is not good, I don't post.

You certainly need to plan ahead when making these, because you need to "feed" your starter the day before. (I took out my starter from the frig last night, fed it and let it sit on the counter over night.)

Recipe:

2 cups of starter
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbspn. canola oil
1 cup mini choc. morsels

Heat griddle on medium heat.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Beat the eggs in a bowl with a whisk and add milk and oil. Combine the dry ingredients to wet ingredients until all is combined. Add mini choc. chip morsels to batter and drop by heaping spoons onto griddle. (If the batter seems a little to thick, as was mine, just add a little more milk). Cook until edges are lightly browned and flip over until other side is lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Simplicity is Best......

With these Anisette Biscotti


With all the different flavors and variations of biscotti, the star of this attraction is anisette. No other fancy smancy stuff!! Simplicity is best with these. No nuts, no chocolate, no nothing. Less is more in this case.

Ever since I started blogging, on the right hand side of my blog, I have a picture of biscotti. And everyday I get taunted with biscotti. I've been meaning to make these for the longest time and today was the day on this very snowy day!!

For the recipe:

4 cups flour
3 tsps. baking powder
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs, plus 1 egg white for brushing
4 oz. canola oil
3 tsps. anisette extract

Combine dry ingredients. Set aside.

Beat the eggs, oil and anisette in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients by hand to wet ingredients until all combined and then transfer out onto a board or mat. Form into a ball. Divide dough in half. Roll out and place on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Brush with beaten egg white.

First bake

Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for about 5 - 10 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife on an angle and put back in oven for another 3 minutes or so. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Second bake for 3 minutes

Note: If you don't cool the cookies enough when you first take them out of the oven before going in for the second time. They will crumble when you try and slice them.


This is also my entry for the 2nd Annual "Festa Italiana" hosted by Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita and Marie of Proud Italian Cook
Do you have a favorite italian dish, if so, please join us and enter yours!


And last, but not lease to my niece, Nikki Ann, "Do you want a bischawtay?"

Who's Your Valentine?

These are for my lovely Valentine's; Joe, Steven and Lisa. Hugs and Kisses!!

Recipe from Joy of Baking.com

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I just couldn't help but make these. OK, so these aren't figure friendly. Aren't we allowed to indulge sometimes? I think sooo.


Shortbreads with Raspberries

SHORTBREADS:

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, room temp.
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

FILLING:

1/4 - 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. set aside.

In an other bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2-3 inch cookie cutter, cut out the dough. Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking pad (Silpat) .

Use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the centers of half of the cookies on the baking sheet. (You will be sandwiching two cookies together with the cut outs for the tops).

Place the unbaked cookies on the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for about 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Watch closely or they will brown to much as for some of mine did. Cool on wire rack.

ASSEMBLING COOKIES:

Place the cookies with the cut-outs on a wire rack and dust with confectioner's sugar. (I tried this and the sugar just kept fading)

On the bottom surface of the full cookie, spread with about a 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. of *jam. Place the cut-out cookie on top and gently sandwich them together. Using a small spoon, fill the cut-out with a little more jam.

*heat the jam in the microwave for a minute or so to thin out the jam and make it easier to spread on the cookies.