Valentine's Day Dinner

I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day by making a big dinner.  Unfortunately, Holly was sick on Valentine's Day, so we delayed the celebration and did it on Tuesday instead.  I made Chicken Marsala, spaghetti with browned butter & mizithra cheese, broccoli, French Bread rolls, and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert.  And here's some recipes for y'all!

Chicken Marsala



• 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 egg whites beat with 2 T cold water
• Italian style bread crumbs
• 4 ounces Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces prosciutto (Holly doesn't like prosciutto so I use plain ol' regular bacon)
• 8 ounces crimini or porcini mushrooms, stemmed and halved ( prefer crimini)
• 1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine (found in the dessert wine section, usually by the Port Wine)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 Tablespoons butter

1. Pound chicken breasts or cut to make about 1/4 inch thick.  Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a shallow platter.  Cover chicken in egg white mixture, then cover in bread crumbs.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before frying.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat inn large skillet.  Fry chicken approximately 5 minutes each side.  Remove chicken.
3. Lower heat to medium and add prosciutto or bacon to the drippings in the pan.  Cook for about 1 minute.
4. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. 
5. Pour Marsala in pan and boil down for 30 seconds to cook off alcohol.
6. Add chicken stock, simmer for about 1 minute.
7. Stir in butter, return chicken to pan, simmer for about 1 minute.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.  Put extra sauce in a serving dish to have on the table.



Crimini mushrooms (darker
brown than standard white)





Porcini mushrooms





Buy the sweet variety, and
remember it doesn't have to
expensive or fancy (I spend
$6.00 - $7.00 on a bottle).



Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese

• 12 ounces of spaghetti
• 6 tablespoons butter cut into chunks about 1 tablespoon each.
• 4-6 ounces mizithra cheese (Can be found in the specialty cheese area near the deli in most grocery stores.  Our local Safeway carries it, but Wal-mart does not.)

1. Cook spaghetti al dente.  To cook al dente style boil water with 1 teaspoon salt and a splash of olive oil to prevent noodles from sticking together.  Add spaghetti, maintain boiling.  Cook for 7-8 minutes until pasta is firm, but not crunchy.
2. While waiting for water to boil, shred cheese and set aside.
3. While pasta is cooking put butter in small pan (preferably non-stick) over medium heat.  As butter melts it will appear to boil or foaming.  Use rubber scraper to continually scrape bottom of pan.  Brown specks will begin to appear on the bottom of pan and the butter will start have a nutty aroma.  Brown lightly, being careful not to overcook.
4. Drain pasta and return to pot.  Add browned butter and mizithra cheese.  Toss together.  The cheese likes to settle to the bottom of the pan or serving dish, so make sure to get all the way to the bottom when serving.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.  Be careful not to over salt, as the mizithra cheese is fairly salty.  Also, fresh ground pepper tastes best.  My family likes garlic powder on it, and I prefer salt and pepper.



The browning butter process.
Photo from simplyrecipes.com.



French Bread Rolls

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105 -115 degrees)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour

1. In large bowl stir together warm water, yeast and sugar.  Let stand until creamy, approximately 10 minutes.  The mixture will foam.
2. Add oil salt and 2 cups of flour.  Stir in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough begins to pull away from sides of bowl.  If using a stand mixer, mix on setting 1 for about 4 minutes, or until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. 
3. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  If using stand mixer, mix for about 2-4 more minutes.
4. Lightly oil large bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat all sides.  Cover with damp cloth.  Let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
5. Punch dough and put on lightly floured surface.  Divide dough into 16 equal pieces.  Form into round balls.  Put on lightly greased (I use cooking spray) cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Cover with damp cloth and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 40 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
7. Bake 16-18 minutes.
   *For crunchier crust mist dough with water before baking and several times during baking.
   ~Adapted from recipe at allrecipes.com











Lastly I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  It was my first time making them and they turned out wonderfully!  I used Paula Deen's recipe, followed the directions to a T and everything worked out great.  The one exception being I had about 1/2 of the frosting left over!  lol!  Also, I highly recommend the strawberries and pecans to top the cupcakes with.  Wonderful!  Rave reviews from my three harshest critics, as well as rave reviews from my wife!

These are topped with raspberries and
pecans.  I used strawberries as
raspberries are hard to find
this time of year.  I'm sure raspberries
taste great also!