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Posted under: Once you get going on the challenge ‘Living Leaner’ gets a little more interesting and a lot more fun. This past weekend, we spent some time drooling over a few tried and tested favourites that we used to have on our restaurant menu when we lived in the states.
Chicken Marsala was one of best sellers. Every day.
Now, before we go off on a tangent of mushroom and marsala, let us all agree on a fair price for a chicken. I know for a fact that you can get one for €3, €5 or € a whole lot more if you choose, so for this challenge we settled on a nice size €5 free range bird that we got from our butcher. You can make this recipe with a nice pork chop too.
When buying a chicken we never buy the super-sized ones because they look unnatural. I worry what they have been fed in order to make them grow so big, so fast. You should worry about this too. Our medium sized bird, when boned out gave us EIGHT portions, a carcass that we made a nice pot of chicken stock from and enough meat from the chicken carcass to be turned into chicken salad for the children’s school lunch the next day.
Eight portions. Definitely enough to feed two adults and four medium-sized kids.
This is not a very complicated dish. First season your chicken well with salt and pepper. Next, with some olive oil, brown your chicken in a large skillet on both sides then set it aside as you will finish it in a hot oven later.
A punnet of mushrooms if you please
Once you have removed the chicken from the skillet throw in the onions and mushrooms and allow them to cook gently but do not let them burn. Add in about 120 ml (1/2 cup) of both chicken stock and Marsala wine and allow it to simmer and reduce to a gravy-like consistency.
When preparing your veg, stop throwing away the stalks. Eat them!
Prepare the rest of your veggies whilst you are waiting. Broccoli and carrots only take a few minutes cooking in boiling water. Do not over cook them please. The brighter their colour the more nutrients they have retained. AND do not throw out that veggie water. We cooked the veggies in the pot of chicken stock.
Mushrooms, Onions, a little butter and Marsala wine…
Finish your sauce with a little knob of butter.
Nettles are for free if you forage!
Add some recently picked and blanched nettles to your redskin mashed potatoes. These glossy greens are packed with iron. You do have to cook them to eliminate the sting though!
You will find many uses for this sauce…
Place the chicken in a hot oven for ten minutes to finish cooking. Do not over cook it or it will end up very dry. Pour the sauce over the chicken for the last three minutes of cooking time in the oven and serve and eat immediately.
We went slightly over budget. Damn Marsala wine…
Sometimes, and because I would never make a good food stylist, it is hard to make a dish ‘look’ organised and appetising. This is one of those dishes.
You have to trust me that it is all that and a bag of chips delicious. Lick the plate clean in fact.
Nettle mash, chicken marsala and lightly steamed veggies.
Let me know if you try it out. Nothing fancy here folks. Its just chicken and a very nice meal for your family for under a tenner!
Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,
WiseMóna
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About MónaI am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
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I have absolutely NO problem with the sight of that food. I would definitely lick my plate clean. It sounds wonderful and so simple really. How long would you have to cook the nettles for? And would you just boil them in lightly salted water? Interesting…..and healthy xx
Hi Colleen,
It is very simple. I think that a lot of the great dinners are easy to make.
I blanch the nettles for a few minutes in boiling water (4 mins) and then strain them off. Add a bit ofmsalt, pepper, butter
And after seasoning it mix it right into the mashed potatoes. It will continue to cook but you do not want to kill it either.
It should be nice and green and vibrant ;0) Nettles are great, full of iron and I would bet these are the kids favourite ‘mash’ …
They even glove up to pick the nettles! Thanks so much for the visit and the comment!
Thank you for the info! After I had left my comment I realized I had forgotten to ask about gloves. I guess you wear them to get the leaves into the water as well! Now to find me some nettles
I pick them with a kitchen tongs and a pair of scissors. ( a pro nettle picker am I ) and I blanche them on the stem
and them cut them off the stem once they come out of the water. The stems are totally edibble and are great sautéed
With some garlic and olive oil but they are kind of woody and need more time to soften. Nettles are a hearty weed around here
so very easy to find!
Hi that looks and sounds really yum and all for 10.00 euro
its so hard to think of nice cheap dinners for the family . We had lamb chops the other night and to have enough for us all it came to over 17.00 euro for the meat alone. will try this one dont know what reaction i would get to the nettle mash 
but maybe i will tell them its something else in it.
Hi Elaine,
You should try to buy your meat from a local farmer and keep it in the freezer. It is so much cheaper buying the whole animal
and assuming you know where the meat is coming from, you will end up with a much better piece of meat for a lot less money.
When cooking the nettles, just shred them up with a large chopping knife and mix well with butter, salt and pepper when putting into the mash.
Say nothing…they have a flavour very similar to dark green cabbage or kale. We cook them with bacon and cabbage all the time.
Very rich in flavour. Thanks for popping in for a visit Elaine and for the comment!
Hello Mona,
The Chicken Marsala reads like an easy recipe indeed, and I always have chicken on hand. I’m sure I’ve seen cooks make it on the Food Network, just didn’t pay attention to the method. Nice to know that I can use chops also. My problem cooking with wine that calls for so little is that my recipe repertoire for wine is so limited, that the bottle sits around and grows cooties:)
I have always added greens to my mashed potatoes, but never nettles. I goggled the plant and found that yes; it grows all over the States. Do we cook them here in the States? Good ideal of boiling your vegetables in your stock water. If you’re messing with chicken might as well make stock.
Hi Robert,
Have a look at the Party Source in Bellevue for a small bottle of Marsala. This, even kept in a cupboard, will not go bad for years.
It is quite high in alcohol so you need to make sure you use little amounts and let it reduce so the alcohol burns off.
That being said, if you don’t have it on hand then you could use a tablespoon of maple syrup and a little extra
chicken stock. Just add the maple syrup first and let it get all sticky sweet and add the chicken stock a little at a time and let it reduce too.
Yes – we always make our own chicken stock because there is no sense in wasting the carcass. Roast the bones first on a high heat with lots of salt & pepper
and then ‘Carrot/Celery/Onions’ and fill it up with water and let simmer for ages on the stove. Soup, stews, casseroles, stuffings (hint hint with Turkey day around the corner!)
Let me know if you try it out!
Hi mona,
I absolutely love chicken marsala. I usually order this dish when we dine out in an Italian restaurant. Have also made it at home, which is just as good! Not familiar with nettles, however, but i do like cabbage cooked in soup and we like brussel sprouts.
In a recent communication, You linked me to Slow Foods, and i made contact with a local chapter. Amazingly, the city where I reside just started an offshoot chapter, and I know the chairperson! We are going to look into the Slow Foods and check them out. It sounds like a very good organization. thanks again!
Hey there Bernadine,
So glad you connected with SlowFood! I really think you will enjoy this group.
We have made such good friends through the Slow Food Chapters in the US and right here at home.
Great foodie and growing people. Chicken Marsala is not that difficult to make and once you make the sauce one
time it is really a fast throw-together. And – I.Love.Brussel Sprouts. We are having them for Thanksgiving!
Nettles with mash? Now this I have to try. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks Sharon! You Should have no trouble at all finding the nettles.
They are delicious when treated the right way and make a great addition to potato cakes too :0)
Nice one, but on the radio u stated feed a family of six per day. are ye gone back to the old days of point
Hello Stephen and thanks for reading and commenting.
Sorry if the radio interview was misleading. This was my first time ever being interviewed on radio and I was a right bag of nerves.
We have maintained (all along on the Living Leaner series on the blog here http://www.wisewords.ie/index.php/2011/11/spend-lot-money-food/) that this was dinner (only) for six people for €10 per day.
The acoustics at the Kings Head pub head are brutal so it was hard enough to focus on being interviewed and trying not to be too nervous.
I assure you I never meant to mislead anyone at all. Thanks again for the comment. I appreciate it.
I miss Rondos!!! This recipe makes me remember the fabulous meals–not to mention the companionship. I will definitely make this, although I can’t see me foraging for the nettles. Mona, your photographs are gorgeous.
I knew this one would suck you in Mary Sue…….and you can make this very easily.
Oh – how I would love to sit down and have dinner with you guys tonight. A nice big bowl of mussels diavolo on the cards!
Send the big guy off to forage for a few nettles up by the club. I am sure he will find them!
Glad you like the photos. I am working on it – but still very much ‘shoot it as we eat it’ …..
xx
Your “still-life” photos of foods are gorgeous. I would so love that dinner followed by your fabulous Irish coffee. Yum!
Ha ha – You know, I rarely drink those these days. They only really taste good when shared with someone like you and Carmen and Jane and Dia.
I am hoping to improve the photo skills over Christmas when the Chef his home for a few weeks at my beck and call :0) xx
Given that you also got a great chicken stock and enough left-over chicken to make school lunches I’d say that you are under budget with this meal. It’s my night to cook dinner…I think I just decided what to make. Everything looks wonderful in this post Mona.
Hi there Paula!
You are right. We did have plenty left over. We never load up too much protein on their plates but there is always enough for seconds if they want it.
I think that having salad with every meal keeps them feeling full but there are plenty of nights where there are no leftovers!
Thanks for the compliment Paula…. can’t wait to see what you were decorating today!
Wow, a great use for the nine billion nettles populating our farm! Looks delish.
T’was delicious. It is one of those ‘very easy super tasty throw together’ kind of meals.
Once the chicken is boned out it cooks very fast and the sauce is sticky and caramelized onion sweet.
One Turkey (hen) refused to go in tonight and is sitting outside my bedroom window on the roof of the house.
Tap tap tap tappppity tap tap on the glass. Hope she goes to sleep soon!
Mona, what a fabulous recipe and a fantastic dinner! My family would love this and I’ll start with the chicken marsala! For 4 will even cost us a little bit less. Perfect! I love this series.
Thanks Jamie – glad you like the recipe. It is very easy to make and very tasty too.
It should cost less for 4 pp but our diners are still very little so might not eat as much as your growing boys ;0)
Thanks for reading and the comment Jamie xx
Hi Mona,
Just wondering who your butcher is, I have never seen a free range chicken for €5 in a butchers. Even if he’s miles from me it’d be worth the petrol money:) to go there.
Thanks
Shirin
Hey Shirin,
When we buy chickens it is from a guy from Kinvara (named David) and Tormeys butcher in town (near Tesco) does a five-for-fifteen every couple of weeks.
Tormey’s birds (I think from Carlow) are indoor uncaged which is not ideal but ok in a pinch. We spend a lot of time phoning around the different shops
asking questions about pricing and origin of birds. Be very careful when you do this because a lot of times you are given a song and a dance from the butcher
about where they say it is coming from and what it has been fed (much more important than where it lives because a lot of farmers feed their chickens poop!)
Good luck. I might put a list up on the blog (over Christmas hols) of producers we like to buy from. Thanks for reading Shirin and the comment!
There is also another product on the shelves at the supermarket called ‘Farmer to Market’ which sells portioned chickens (5 piece) for €3.99 and they are also free range ;0)
Thanks for the info, I generally buy free range birds in Tesco or Dunnes, didn’t think Tormeys were that reasonable I’ll look again. David sounds like a good man to know. Definitely put up a list of producers when you get a chance. I’m on the look out for free range pigs in the Galway area.
Shirin,
We buy our pork from http://www.Oldfarm.ie and they deliver. They are forty five minutes from Galway and trust me they have a great product.
Also, check out the Friendly Farmer. He has piglets right now and I am not sure what the ‘scheme’ is with his piggies but he is one of the
best in the business for rearing animals. http://thefriendlyfarmer.blogspot.com/2011/10/piglets-are-class.html
I think the key to buying from a butcher is getting to know them and them getting to know you. We shop around and compare prices and ask a lot of questions. Any butcher worth their salt will love you for knowing ( or wanting to know ) your stuff.
I have to echo a previosu commenter – that’s a whole lot of yum for a tenner! I need classes in cutting up a raw chicken so that the cuts still look vaguely like they’re supposed to…
) And I have ALWAYS eaten my veg stems! My mom used to laugh at my frugality 
Thanks Jeanne!
I have yet to learn how to butcher a chicken without making it look ‘butchered’.
The marsala recipe is very very easy and full of flavour. I think you did a post with something using dried mushrooms recently
and those would work really well too because of their excellent deep woodsy flavour.
AND glad to hear you eat your stalks! Frugality rocks!
I think looks perfectly appetizing to me!! Love this recipe too and will definitely try it out. Free range chickens are expensive here though so that’s a bit of a problem. I think a regular bit of chicken breast is affordable but even a badly raised chicken is already more expensive ..:(
I hear you. Some of the free range and organic birds here range in price from €12 – €17 per bird! This is why we raise a lot of our
own meat birds. Are you connected with SlowFood at all in your area?
A lot of SF members live a sustainable life and you might be able to barter a few photos in exchange for a few chickens?
This time of year, hunting season, we see a lot of wood pigeon and pheasant (for free) and this is a great meat for
marsala too. You should try this one Simone. Even with dehydrated mushrooms it is delicious. xx