For everyone interested in an easy great vegetarian recipe, Kacy has hit one out of the park!  After you enjoy Norwegio’s recipe be sure to click the Easy Fish and Vegetarian Recipe page!     

Editor’s Note: I have known Darrold since law school, but, due to distance, we had not gotten together until an impromptu school reunion about a year ago.  We had a great time at the reunion.  After I started Easy Recipes And Stuff, Darrold told me about his love of cooking Tuscany style food; and I knew I just had to get him to share a recipe on Easy Recipes and Stuff.  Follow Darrold’s easy step by step recipe and you will create a great family meal or, better yet, a wonderful meal for an evening with friends. 

Norwegio’s Chicken Marsala

EASY RECIPE   

 Ingredients:

¼ cup of flour                           2 cloves of minced garlic              6-8 oz of marsala wine

2 chicken breasts                      2 cups of sliced mushrooms         fresh parmesan cheese

1 tsp of Italian spices                1 cup of sliced red onion               1 cup of fresh basil

Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry magic                       Olive Oil

 Accompaniments;

Penne or linguini noodles

Garlic Bread*

Preparation:

Remove all fat from chicken breasts; lightly season with Poultry Magic; put flour in a bowl and coat the breasts with the flour.  (Do not discard your bowl of flour). Place olive oil in pan on medium low heat and lightly brown the breasts, keeping the center of the breast uncooked.  Tip: You do not want to overcook your chicken. This is one of the biggest mistakes restaurants make!

Remove the chicken from the pan and set to the side. If you are going to have noodles boil some water and cook them.  Add marsala to the fry pan.  Add onions, mushrooms, garlic and Italian spices. 

Allow to cook in the marsala for about 20 minutes.  Sprinkle in some of the flour you saved just to make a nice gravy out of your marsala. Place your chicken breasts in the marsala and cover. Let cook for  about 5 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts and add the basil. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and place chicken over a small bed noodles if you choose to have them.  Pour marsala gravy mixture over breasts and shred fresh parmesan over meal and serve.

*Serve with Garlic bread which you should make while doing the above.  Here is an easy and healthy way to make this:  Use a coarse Italian bread and pour extra virgin olive oil over the bread. Cook at 350 until crusty. Remove from oven and scrape with a garlic clove (No butter; no salt unlike most garlic breads!)

 AND STUFF 

Norwegio goes to Italy

I have lived my entire life in northern Minnesota.  My mother is 100% Norwegian and my father 100% Swede. 

Yet, I absolutely love the country, culture, food and wine of Italy.  I own 5 different espresso machines and two sets of bocce.  My personal cookbook is full of Italian recipes and I make my own spaghetti sauce and meatballs.   My favorite wine varietal is anything from the nebbiolo grape from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy.  

I have often wondered where all that came from. 

Lured by my love for Italy, a few years ago I informed my mom that I was headed there on vacation.  I had never been to Europe before.  With a curious look on her face, she pointedly asked “Why not Norway?”  I then inquired of her if she was sure that there wasn’t a little Italian in our bloodlines, somewhere. “No way” came her response along with a puzzled look on her face, as if I was questioning the sanctity of her 60 year marriage and her Mother Theresa lifestyle.  Where in the world did I come from?  My parents still live god- fearing lives and my mother has never smoked or had a drink. And me? . . . never mind.

Perhaps this Italian influence came from the neighborhood I grew up in.  The many Italian immigrants that lived nearby would often gather and play bocce in the alley behind my house.  Each night I would hear them laughing and arguing until nightfall chased them home.  Constantini, Lumpiano, Scipioni, Antonelli and Mamone were some of their names.  They never spoke English and that probably was just as well for I knew their words were not meant for the young, innocent ears of a 10-year old.

But back to my trip.  Bypassing my roots in Scandinavia, I headed off to Italy and even enrolled in a cooking class in the hills of Tuscany. The class was wonderful, even though I was not used to drinking wine at 10:00 a.m.  But who was I to complain?  I do love wine and I was on vacation. 

Upon my return to Minnesota I attempted to keep in touch with my new Italian friends.  The cooking school had a blog and we were encouraged to share our recipes and ideas.  What a great idea, I thought!  So I submitted a recipe and then they asked for my “user name”.  I could see the other people registered on the blog, and their names were along the lines of, Luigi, Mario, Francesca, Vincenzo, Giovanni and the like.  For some reason “Darrold” just didn’t seem appropriate.  So I had to be creative, and now you know why in cooking circles in Tuscany, and here on Easy Recipes And Stuff  I am known as  — “Norwegio”.

Good Eating and Table Talk,

Norwegio

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