Chicken Madeira
Recipe: Chicken Madeira
From: a Celandine original
Serves: 4
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
salt & pepper
garlic powder
flour
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
3-6 Tbsp. butter or margarine (see note)
1 c. + Madeira wine
1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch
Flatten chicken breasts on waxed paper with fists or meat mallet until even thickness, about 1/4 in. Sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, and generous garlic, and rub with flour.
If desired, sauté mushrooms and green onion in 1-2 Tbsp. butter. Set aside.
Sauté chicken in enough butter to prevent sticking for about 3-5 min. per side, until lightly browned and just cooked through. (If you cook it too long, it toughens a bit.) Remove to serving dish and keep warm in low oven. Melt about 1 Tbsp. more butter in skillet, then add Madeira all at once (it will sizzle and steam up). Bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet, and boil 2-3 min. to reduce and get rid of the raw alcohol taste. Dissolve 1 Tbsp. cornstarch in 2 Tbsp. water or additional Madeira, and whisk into simmering wine to thicken sauce. (Use more cornstarch slurry if not thick enough). Return mushrooms and green onion to sauce and heat through. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve with rice to spoon extra sauce over.
Notes:
This was a recipe I came up with in fourth grade; it's loosely based on one from a fancy Italian cookbook calling for slices of cooked turkey breast, Marsala, and truffles. This version is a lot simpler.
I prefer a skillet that is not nonstick for this, as the bits of chicken and flour that remain after sautéing enrich the sauce. Lots of garlic is good; you can use fresh minced garlic too, but it tends to burn a bit in the skillet; that's why I often use margarine, as I’m likely to overheat the pan and margarine tolerates that better than butter (not a problem with clarified butter, of course - using about half butter and half vegetable oil also works well).
Once you've made it once or twice, you can cook the chicken, make rice to go with it, and prepare a vegetable and/or salad all in 30 minutes or so! It's a tasty company dish although it does require last-minute preparation. Reheats fairly well in the microwave, right along with its rice; I frequently cut the chicken into bite-size pieces before reheating it as it heats more evenly.
From: a Celandine original
Serves: 4
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
salt & pepper
garlic powder
flour
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
3-6 Tbsp. butter or margarine (see note)
1 c. + Madeira wine
1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch
Flatten chicken breasts on waxed paper with fists or meat mallet until even thickness, about 1/4 in. Sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, and generous garlic, and rub with flour.
If desired, sauté mushrooms and green onion in 1-2 Tbsp. butter. Set aside.
Sauté chicken in enough butter to prevent sticking for about 3-5 min. per side, until lightly browned and just cooked through. (If you cook it too long, it toughens a bit.) Remove to serving dish and keep warm in low oven. Melt about 1 Tbsp. more butter in skillet, then add Madeira all at once (it will sizzle and steam up). Bring to a boil, scraping up browned bits from bottom of skillet, and boil 2-3 min. to reduce and get rid of the raw alcohol taste. Dissolve 1 Tbsp. cornstarch in 2 Tbsp. water or additional Madeira, and whisk into simmering wine to thicken sauce. (Use more cornstarch slurry if not thick enough). Return mushrooms and green onion to sauce and heat through. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve with rice to spoon extra sauce over.
Notes:
This was a recipe I came up with in fourth grade; it's loosely based on one from a fancy Italian cookbook calling for slices of cooked turkey breast, Marsala, and truffles. This version is a lot simpler.
I prefer a skillet that is not nonstick for this, as the bits of chicken and flour that remain after sautéing enrich the sauce. Lots of garlic is good; you can use fresh minced garlic too, but it tends to burn a bit in the skillet; that's why I often use margarine, as I’m likely to overheat the pan and margarine tolerates that better than butter (not a problem with clarified butter, of course - using about half butter and half vegetable oil also works well).
Once you've made it once or twice, you can cook the chicken, make rice to go with it, and prepare a vegetable and/or salad all in 30 minutes or so! It's a tasty company dish although it does require last-minute preparation. Reheats fairly well in the microwave, right along with its rice; I frequently cut the chicken into bite-size pieces before reheating it as it heats more evenly.