Chicken Modiga

One of my favorite Italian dishes is chicken modiga.  It is chicken smothered in a white, cheesy sauce with peas and mushrooms.  It is decadent and anyone can make it!

Here are the ingredients:

Chicken breast - pounded thin
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Panko bread crumbs
Garlic clove, minced
Butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
Dried mushrooms OR chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup shredded provel cheese
Parsley - 2 tablespoons, minced

To begin, add dried porchini mushrooms in 2 cups water.  Boil for 30 minutes.  This reconstitutes the mushrooms and makes a fabulous mushroom broth.  If you do not want to make a mushroom broth, you can substitute chicken broth.

Take 1/2 cup olive oil and add the minced garlic.  When you need to add olive oil to the saute pan, take from this dish.  The garlic will infuse in the olive oil but will not be overbearing in the dish.

Pound your chicken breast to 1/2 inch thickness.  Place chicken breast in Ziploc bag.  Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper.  Dredge in bread crumbs.

Heat a saute pan - add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon butter.  Add the chicken and brown on both sides.  Remove from pan and keep warm in oven.

Clean out your sauce pan so that you remove the leftover bread crumbs.  Return the pan to the stove top.  Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon butter.  Saute the mushrooms until brown.  Throw the peas in there to heat them up.  Remove the mushrooms and peas - set aside.

Add 1/2 cup of the mushroom broth/chicken broth to the saute pan.  Add the flour - whisk until the lumps are gone.  This will make a roux - a thickener for the sauce.

Slowly add more broth, stirring constantly.  Slowly, add the Marsala wine and cream.  Add the sauteed mushrooms and peas.  If you used dried mushrooms, dice those up and add them too.  Add the provel cheese.

Top the chicken with the cheese sauce.  Serve with a side of buttered pasta.  The cheese sauce slathers into the pasta - YUMMY!

Mangia!

This recipe is featured on What's Cooking Wednesday!