Chicken Breasts Portieri

Back in the days when I was just learning to cook, and just learning to be the 'ladies man' that I became in my latter, single days, I needed a simple yet tasty recipe that I could fix quick for a dinner date. Had to have time to uncork the wine, and set that candle lit table, after all. Well, I discovered that recipe in the form of Chicken Breasts Portieri. This delicious little Italian dish pleased back then, and it still pleases the wife, now that I am an old married man.

I’ve been wanting to share this recipe on the blog since I first started it. Not only is it one of my favorite dishes, but it is one that I haven’t seen anywhere else but in the cheap little paperback Italian cookbook that I once used when trying to impress the ladies with my kitchen prowess. Now, many many years later, I have a multitude of Italian cookbooks, and have read many more. But, I have never seen this recipe in any of them. The name doesn’t even come up on an internet search, so it definitely isn’t some classic Italian dish like Chicken Cacciatore, or Lasagna. My knowledge of it I owe solely to the Nitty Gritty Italian cookbook. And now, so do you.


Chicken Breasts Portieri

2 chicken breasts, boned and skinned
½ cup flour
½ stick butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup marsala wine
½ cup water
1 large chicken bouillon cube
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
½ lb mozzarella, shredded
½ oz capers

Coat chicken breasts with flour. Place butter and olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When butter has melted, add chicken and cook until lightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove from the pan and arrange in a baking dish. Pour the wine in the skillet and stir to loosen browned bits.

Add water and bouillon cube. Cook down until sauce thickens. Pour the sauce over the chicken breasts.

Layer mushrooms over the saucy breasts. (heh heh heh)  Sprinkle shredded cheese over all of this, and then sprinkle some capers on top of that.

Bake at 450F for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starts to turn golden brown on top.

And voila (or whatever it is the Italians say), there you have it...a nice little tasty dish fit for a romantic dinner with your significant other. Just don’t forget the wine and candlelight.

Here we've served it with some Hobo Pack Green Beans with Hearts of Palm.  Salute,

Chris
 
 
PS.  If anyone has every heard of this dish, I'd love to know.  I really did try to research it, and could find nothing.  I couldn't even find out what 'Portieri' means, other than it was the name of an Italian Football team, and lots of Italian last names.  So maybe this dish is just named after the person who created it, and Portieri doesn't mean anything.  Sort of like how Oyster's Rockafeller has nothing to do with 'rocks' or 'fellers,' it was just named after a rich guy. 
 
C