I love to cook with wine...and sometimes a splash of wine even goes into the meal 😊 Wine enhances the flavors in food, from making Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon that requires three cups of wine, adding a little to a slow cooked meaty sauce to go with your pasta, or as a marinade.
During the interactive online cooking class with Chef Travis Westrope from the Cellarius Kitchen Experience at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, I learnt how to prepare the Chef’s fun take on a Creamy Chicken Marsala with Charred Onions. Two cups of sweet Marsala wine go into the making of this creamy mushroom and onion mixture, that is spooned over the chicken before serving. Marsala is a fortified wine from Sicily commonly used in cooking to create rich, caramelized sauces, and the higher-quality ones also make stunning sipping wines.
Did you know that mushrooms are like sponges and should therefore never be washed, but instead wiped clean to avoid them soaking up water? I learnt that as we prepared and sautéed the mushrooms in a ton of olive oil, together with fresh picked thyme leaves, and minced garlic. Scooping the mixture out onto a plate.
Next, we turned the heat down a bit and deglazed the pan with Marsala wine (being careful not to ignite/flambé the wine). Deglazing is when you toss cool liquid in a hot pan. The process captures all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of your sauté pan. We let the wine reduce by half, and then added heavy cream and reduced again until slightly thickened, before adding back the mushrooms.
This dish was delicious, surprisingly easy to make, and a perfect pairing for Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2009 FAY Cabernet Sauvignon.
Bon Appetit!