White Wine Cream Sauce Chicken & Thyme

In France we saw endless fields of lavender, ornately designed royal gardens, and vending machines stocked by local farmers with the crop of the day. In France, we missed lunch almost every afternoon because in Bourgueil, shops close up after 2 and if you're just strolling into town for a bite to eat, you're fresh out of luck. 

We saw at least one Château a day, traveled almost exclusively by bike, and learned that a map really does you no good when roads have no signs or names. It flooded, and we drank plenty of wine.

In France, we cooked coq au vin in our little apartment, when all of the restaurants were closed. We tried to eat like the French, even when we couldn't figure out their schedule! 

It's almost impossible to tell which parts of this dish are inspired by French cooking and which are just habits learned from my mom. This coq au vin-inspired dish has home cooking written all over it:

• It starts with shallots: French shallots are French, aren't they?! Despite the fact that my mom virtually always has a shallot or two laying around, cooking with them always just feels a bit fancier to me than cooking with onions

• After you sauté the shallots, pour on the wine (in this case, white). It sizzles and pops, and in true chef fashion you should probably take a sip or two from the bottle between stirs. Get a French wine if you want to feel extra French

• Stir in the cream, and watch the sauce go from brothy to rich and creamy. Many a person has added cream to sauce... but is it very French? Maybe, or maybe not. But who cares! It's cream! And it tastes amazing. Just do it.

• Finish with thyme, fresh and herbaceous. Any even if your thyme wasn't grown in France, you can pretend it was. Top off you glass of wine before you sit down to eat.

White Wine Cream Sauce Chicken & Thyme

Published October 12, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breast 
• 1 shallot
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (for dairy-free, try canned full-fat coconut milk)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 springs fresh thyme
• Optional: 1 cup fresh baby spinach

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add the chicken breasts to the pan, and brown on each side until golden (about 5 minutes each side). Move chicken to a plate and set aside.
3. Dice the shallot, and add to the pan. Sauté until soft. Add the garlic. Sauté for another minute. Pour wine into pan, and scrape bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula to deglaze.
4. Pour cream into pan, and stir gently until incorporated. Add spinach, and stir in until wilted.
5. Place chicken back in pan. Bring sauce to a slow simmer (if you turn it too hot, the cream may curdle). Add salt & black pepper, and leaves from 2 springs of thyme. Allow to simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Garnish with thyme leaves from remaining sprig of thyme, and serve hot.

Zucchini Ricotta Manicotti

When you pull this casserole out of the oven, the first thing you'll see is bubbling cheese, that tempts you even when it is too hot to eat. Then, only seconds later, a hot steam that carries the smell of fresh basil and ripe tomatoes hits you. By the time the dish makes in to the counter, the sizzling begins to slow. With in a few minutes the dish sits still. It begs for you, even now when it would burn your tongue. (Maybe you sneak a bite anyways).  

By now the whole house has smelled like home cooked Italian food for 20 minutes or more, and people are beginning poke their heads into the kitchen. Is it ready? Can we eat yet? What are you up to in here? 

Cheese. Wine. More cheese in the form of ricotta. That is what you are up to. This recipe is pretty much everything. If your "everything" is ooey, gooey, and delicious, that is. And somehow folded in there is a pile of vegetables too: zucchini for noodles, spinach folded in with the ricotta, and a homemade tomato sauce that will make you proud.

This is a pile of cheesy Italian flavor you'll feel really good about eating. Despite begin literally stuffed with cheese, this recipe is light: it doesn't leave you feeling groggy the way this dish would if it was made with traditional pasta. We serve it with extra marinara sauce (I love homemade marinara sauce) and a side salad, and call it a meal. Oh--and don't forget the glass of wine! Red is perfect for this dish. 

If you're worried about the logistics of wrapping a bunch of cheese in thinly sliced zucchini, I don't blame you! But it's even easier than I originally thought it would me, so watch the video below to see how this impressive dish comes together, and you'll see you have nothing to worry about!

Music: www.bensound.com

Zucchini Ricotta Manicotti

Paleo, Primal, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |    Print This Recipe

Zucchini is cut thin and rolled around ricotta as a stand in for traditional manicotti!

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchinis
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 cup ricotta
• 1 cup grated parmesan, split in half
• 1 8-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed
• Salt & pepper


For sauce:
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced - plus more for garnish
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. First, make the marinara sauce: heat avocado oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Dice white onion, and mince garlic. Add both to sauce pan once oil is hot, and sauté until the onion is translucent and the garlic begins to brown. Pour wine into pot, and use a wooden spoon to scrape any brunt pieces from the bottom of the pot. Allow to simmer, then add tomatoes. Stir. Add oregano and basil, and then season with salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
2. Spread 1/2 of sauce in the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish.
3. Make the ricotta filling next. Place thawed spinach in a fine mesh sieve and squeeze out any excuses water. Place in a mixing bowl, and combine with ricotta, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, egg, and a few sprinkles of salt and freshly cracked pepper. Stir until combined.
4. Preheat oven to 400°F and assemble: use a potato peeler or mandolin to slice the zucchini in long, thin strips (watch the video above to see an example). Place two zucchini strips on a flat surface so that they overlap by about 1/2 an inch. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture on the short edge of the zucchini strips, and then roll up the zucchini strips around the ricotta like a roll of sushi. Place in the baking dish. Repeat until you run out of ricotta.
5. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the manicottis and place in oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until cheese is gooey, and sauce is bubbly. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh basil as garnish. I also serve with extra sauce (the remaining 1/2) because I love marinara sauce!
6. Note: I find that when I get to the middle of the zucchini, it becomes hard to slice because of the seeds, so I move on to the second zucchini and reuse the middle of each zucchini later for another meal.

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Chicken Marsala (Gluten-free)

A few weeks ago I explained Knowledge Knights to you all. Well the same thing always happens to me at Knowledge Knight: while everyone is presenting, and asking questions, I think of 15 other things I want to learn about. This past Knowledge Knight, after sipping on a glass of wine, I thought to myself I wonder what the science is behind all of the different flavors that wine can be? Not just oak barrel aged versus stainless-steel aged, but like, the actual science. 

As I was making this Chicken Marsala the question popped back into my head. More specifically, what makes a Marsala a Marsala? Wikipedia, come at me. 

Well, first thing's first: Marsala has Denominazione di Origine Controllata which means that in order for wine to be called a Marsala it must be produced in the city of Marsala, Italy. This is the same as how Champagne must be produced in the Champagne region in order to be sold as Champagne.

Traditional Marsala wine is aged in wooden casks. I don't always taste the woody flavor this lends wine, but when you compare two wines--a wood aged versus a steel cask aged wine- you can usually tell the difference. Further more, the casks that are used to age Marsala are refilled with newer wine on an on-going basis, which means that every bottle ends up with a blend of different aged wines inside of it. This process is appropriately called perpetuum in Italy, and Solera in other parts of the world. 

The wine I used for this Chicken Marsala was classified as fine which means it aged for at least one year. You can get Marsala that has been aged much longer, Marsala that is bright red ("Rubino" is made from red grapes), golden ("Oro"), or amber "Ambra." They also vary from secco (dry) to sweet. 

In the states we typically associate Marsala wine with this chicken dish, which is actually Italian-American, not traditional Italian fare. Some people add cream to the sauce to give a rich consistency, while others play with different herbs, like thyme or sage. Marsala wine, however, was originally used more widely as an aperitif. It is often fortified with spirits and sweetened with sugar. 

Ok, ok, but what about the science?! This required a lot more digging, and honestly with out buying research papers I had a hard time finding much at all. Quests like this usually end in me looking for more answers. I think I am going to buy a book on the science of wine just out of curiosity-- any recommendations?

What I did find: Marsala, like Sherry, has a high portion of ash, but this ash is not as high in sulfates as it is in Sherry. (Hold up: there's ash in wine? This was news to me too! It is what is leftover after a fair amount of evaporation and incineration is complete. It's also found in the soils of regions like Tuscany). Also, Marsala is consider a really low-acid wine, which may be why people enjoy drinking it as an aperitif (added sugar aside). 

Chicken Marsala

Paleo, Primal, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |    Print This Recipe

Marsala cooking wine makes a savory, flavorful sauce for this Italian-American chicken dish. The cherry tomatoes are optional— I like that they add some color.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 6 chicken cutlets (about 1 pound)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
• Optional: 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup marsala wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon corn starch or arrowroot starch
• 1 tablespoons cold water
• Salt & Pepper
• For serving: Parsley and parmesan

Directions:

1. Heat coconut oil in a skillet or wok over medium heat until it glistens. Add chicken to skillet, and brown on each side.
2. Once cooked through, move chicken to a plate and set aside. Place diced shallot, minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms in pan and sauté until the shallots are translucent. If you plan on adding tomatoes, do so at this time.
3. Pour the wine and broth into the pan, and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spatula. Bring to a simmer. Whisk the corn starch or arrowroot starch into the cold water and pour into pan, stirring until combined. Season generously with salt & pepper. Add chicken back to the pan. Continue to simmer the sauce until it begins to thicken. Remove from heat.
4. Sprinkle with a few parsley leaves and some shredded parmesan, and serve hot. We served with a side salad and garlic-herb mash potatoes.