Late last night, I read an article that said wine should be consumed an hour after opening. That made me check out the bottles of wine we had in our fridge that has sat there for weeks now. According to the article, once you allow wine to sit for that long, it slowly turns into vinegar thus making it unfit for drinking. So I decided to create my own version of Chicken Marsala. Unfortunately, we didn't have Marsala. But we had the most common type of Red Wine in our fridge: Cabernet Sauvignon. It then got me thinking. If there is a recipe for Chicken Marsala, then there must be a recipe for Cabernet Chicken somewhere. I searched Google for two minutes and found that it only had recipes for grape-stuffed Cabernet Chicken. Unfortunately, I did not have grapes in the fridge. So I decided to ask my Twitter followers for a Cabernet Chicken recipe. Thankfully, one of my friend, Daryl, sent me an easy recipe for Cabernet Chicken. I tweaked it a bit and added my own flair to it, and this is what I ended up making.
Cabernet Chicken
In a bowl, I mixed a tablespoon of Corn Starch/Flour
Five Tablespoons (or so) of All Purpose Flour
Some Salt, Pepper, Oregano, and Basil.
I then prepared some Chicken Quarters and set them inside a huge plastic container.
Then, I dumped the Flour mixture all over the chicken, put the lid on the plastic container, then shook it for a good three minutes. This is how I always dredge Chicken especially when I am not sure if I have enough Flour Mix for all the pieces. It also ensures a uniform coat on all the pieces.
Once the chicken was ready I heated some oil in a pan then...
Browned the chicken in the hot oil.
I turned it over once and let the under-side brown as well.
I then set the chicken aside.
I threw all the oil I used previously and scraped off some of the burnt/cooked Flour and disposed of it as well. Then, in the same pan, I melted some butter.
Once the butter was melted, I added back the browned Chicken Quarters and some whole button mushrooms and let it sit on the melted butter for a while.
Then I deglazed the pan with the stale Red Wine and let the wine simmer for a while. Before turning the heat off, I added about two Tablespoons of milk and a dab of butter and then transferred the Chicken Quarters to an oven-safe pan.
I then baked the dish for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then 200 degrees Fahrenheit for another 20 minutes.
After that, your Chicken Quarters and Mushrooms should come out looking all gorgeously Golden. I served mine with a semi-instant version of Risotto using regular leftover rice we had at home mixed with Pork Stock, Butter, Parmesan Cheese, Basil, Parsley, and Black Pepper.
