By Jan D’Atri
Every May, I feature a wonderful, original recipe from my momma to honor her and her great classically Italian dishes for Mother’s Day!
She’s known for her foolproof dishes that we can count on for a delicious and memorable meal. This month, it’s her chicken scaloppine.
This is the dish that put her famous restaurant in Lake Tahoe on the map. Once you taste it, you’ll see why.
When she created the dish in 1955, she prepared the dish with veal, but we have found that slices of chicken breast pounded into tender medallions are as flavorful.
I’m so excited to share momma’s scaloppine with you because this is a gourmet dish that is expensive at Italian restaurants, but now you can make it at home anytime you like.
It really only takes about 5 minutes to make, once you have all of your items prepped. Preparation is important because it will sauté quickly. This was the first recipe we chose when creating our first cookbook, “Momma & Me & You,” and it was the first time momma shared her recipe from D’Atri’s Italian Restaurant in Lake Tahoe.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 medium boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup flour for dredging
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 3/4 cup Marsala wine
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup sweet yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped fine
• 4 cups white button mushrooms, sliced thin
• Salt and pepper as needed
• Uncle Ben’s white rice for serving with the scaloppine
Directions:
In a pot, cook rice. (For more flavorful rice, add a chicken bouillon cube to boiling water.) Wash chicken and pat dry.
Remove fat. Cut each chicken breast into five or six slices. Place chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag. Gently pound slices to form medallions, about 2 inches in diameter.
Dredge each piece in flour.
In a large sauté pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the pan is hot, add the chicken a few pieces at a time. Add a little salt and pepper to each piece. Do not overlap chicken.
Brown each piece quickly on both sides, about 1 minute per side, making sure the heat is on high.
When all pieces are browned, add marsala. (Important! Use marsala from the wine department of the grocery store and not the marsala from the baking aisle.)
Turn heat down to medium and simmer for about 30 seconds until wine has evaporated. Add butter, mushroom, yellow and green onions, parsley, salt and pepper. Do not cover.
Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve about 5 medallions per serving. Place chicken medallions over a bed of rice, scooping sauce from pan over chicken.
Watch Jan D’Atri’s how-to videos at https://bit.ly/JanDAtri.
