Chicken Marsala and Mashed Potatoes

If Delaney has ever gone to your house to cook for you, you’ll recognize her famous Chicken Marsala.  It’s her favorite thing to make, & I’m not shy about pressing her into service when I’m in a hurry to get dinner on the table.  I handle the potatoes & veg, & she makes the chicken.  It’s juicy and savory and winey, and I DON’T HAVE TO COOK IT.  Win-win.

If she hasn’t ever gone to your house to cook for you, well, you’re missing out, but I’m not going to volunteer her services.  You’ll just have to make this chicken yourself.

We found the recipe here; there are lots of good recipes on that website, making it worth an explore.  I’m not going to retype the recipe–the only things you need to know are that we a) cut the oil, using my usual technique of spray-the-pan-then-pour-in-a-drizzle, and b) buy cutlets at Whole Foods, to avoid the whole pounding-chicken-spreading-salmonella-everywhere-routine.  Delaney is working on learning to up or downscale the recipe to meet her needs, and how to tweak the sauce depending on what she wants to do with it.  I gave you both photos above to show two ways we approach one concept, depending on circumstances.

In the photo on the left, because we were working together and had a little extra time, I went ahead and peeled the potatoes for the mash–unusual for me.  Honestly, we were all less than thrilled.  My mashed potatoes are usually a pretty rustic affair, so the pure white smoothness of the peeled potatoes was less texturally interesting than we’re used to.  Delaney experimented with increasing the sauce (but not the chicken) to make a little gravy for the potatoes; I think she decided that she’d thicken it more next time, with the flour left from dredging the cutlets.

In the photo on the right, she cooked the sauce down until it was just a mere glaze on the chicken–as a result, the cutlets themselves were more intensely flavored.  My normal rough-and-ready potatoes have enough flavor and substance to stand on their own (and succotash–well, you just can’t go wrong with succotash!)

Lisa Rosen’s standard garlic-mashed potatoes:
These quantities are per person; increase as needed.

1 Potato–I prefer large Yukon Golds, but will use a medium russet, or baking potato.
1 garlic clove, peeled, and the hard little stem end cut off*
1 T. fat-free sour cream
1 T. fat-free Greek yogurt
1 pat light margarine
salt & pepper

Scrub the potato well, peel it only if you feel like it, cut it into two inch-ish chunks, and put in a pot along with the garlic.  Cover with water, put the lid on, and bring to a boil.  If you’re cooking multiple potatoes, keep an eye on it, because it will boil over without warning, making a starchy mess on the stovetop.  Ask me how I know.  When the water boils, throw in some salt, and turn the heat down to maintain a low boil, covered.

The potatoes are done when a fork inserted in a chunk meets no resistance.  Personally, I err on the side of overdone–I think the texture of undercooked potato is revolting, and you’re just going to mash it up anyway, so falling-apart-done is not a crisis.  Drain the potatoes well (if you bake bread, you can drain the cooking liquid off into a bowl, let it cool, and save it in the fridge.  Use it as the liquid next time you make a loaf–it makes great bread, adding nutrition, tenderness, and shelf-life).  Immediately dump them back into the hot saucepan, and put it over very low heat, shaking constantly.  You’re trying to evaporate any remaining moisture, without letting them burn.  Scorched potato is every bit as nasty as undercooked, plus it’s really hard to scrub off the pot.

When the potatoes are as dry as you can safely get them, remove from the heat.  Rough mash them with a potato masher (you do have one, right?!)**, then add the margarine.  Stir gently with wooden spoon until the margarine is melted and absorbed, then add the sour cream and yogurt.  Stir gently, then add salt and pepper to taste, and stir one more time.  If you’re like me, you can now bellow at the top of your lungs for someone to come get the pot and put it on the table, with a big spoon.  If you’re fussy, or have a lot of help with the dishes, you can put the potatoes into a beautiful bowl before serving them.  You know what works at your house.

*I should point out that if you peel the potatoes, then cut them small, they will cook a lot faster than the garlic.  You probably won’t realize it, so you’ll mash the whole thing up, serve it, and someone at the table (probably you, but possibly a finicky child) will bite into a large chunk of raw garlic.  This will result in either gales of laughter, grossed-out vomiting noises, or ego-withering criticism of your cooking skills.  I just thought I should mention the possibility.

**There is an alternative to the potato masher–the potato ricer.  Delaney prefers it.  More later.