Italian Three-course Feast

It's a rainy day here in Parrish, so a perfect day to relax at home and cook a delicious dinner. On the menu this evening we are making Caesar salad with homemade dressing, chicken Marsala with mushroom risotto, and lemon sorbetto for dessert. 

Caesar salad:

Ingredients- 

3 cups chopped romaine lettuce 

1 tablespoon plus extra for garnish Parmesan cheese 

Juice of 1 small lemon 

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce 

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 

1 tablespoon mayonnaise (I use Duke's, if you haven't tried it, do it!) 

2 tablespoon olive oil 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Caesar salad

Mix everything except the lettuce in a big bowl and whisk together. Put the lettuce on top of the dressing, but don't toss until serving. Garnish with peels of Parmesan (using a vegetable peeler). 

Chicken Marsala:

Ingredients- 

6 Boneless skinless chickens cutlets (save the extras for leftovers)

2 tablespoons of flour, plus 1 Olive oil for searing 

1 tablespoon butter 

1/2 cup Marsala 

1 cup chicken stock 

1/4 cup half and half 

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme 

Salt and pepper 

Chicken cutlets sauteing

Sauce simmering

Add chicken in the sauce right before serving

Coat chicken with flour and salt and pepper and place in sauté pan over medium high heat. Cook on each side until golden brown (about five minutes per side). Once chicken is cooked, set aside on a plate. Add the butter, thyme, and remaining flour into pan and stir to dissolve flour for about a minute. Add in Marsala and reduce. Add in chicken stock and temperature until simmering. Right before serving, add half and half and chicken back into pan. Serve on top of risotto and spoon extra sauce over it. 

Mushroom risotto:

Ingredients- 

1.5 cups of arborio rice 

4 cups plus of chicken stock

2 cups mushrooms (baby mushrooms), cleaned and sliced 

1/2 onion chopped

1/2 cup Marsala wine 

2 tablespoons butter, plus 1 

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan, plus extra for garnish 

1 teaspoon of dried thyme 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Mushrooms at the beginning

Mushrooms after 45 minutes

Finished risotto

Cooking the mushrooms is a long process, but so worth it! I usually hate mushrooms, but I love them cooked this way. Started by sautéing the sliced mushrooms in the melted butter in a Dutch oven, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. After about five minutes,turn down to low and add salt, pepper, and thyme. Continue cooking until completely caramelized, about 45 minutes. Once their cooked, take them out of the pan using a slotted spoon, leaving the remaining cooking oil in the pan. Add chopped onion and cook until translucent, seasoning to taste. Once onion is cooked, add rice and stir to coat rice with butter (if needed, add more). Stir for a minute and then add Marsala and continue to cook for five minutes. After that it's cooking the risotto in the traditional sense of adding one ladle of warm chicken stock at a time and stirring constantly, until rice is al dente. After rice is cooked, add mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and tablespoon of butter. Serve and enjoy! 

Lemon Sorbetto: 

 Ingredients- 

3 cups water 

1 cup sugar 

1/2 cup lemon juice 

1 tablespoon lemon zest 

Peel of one lemon 

Heat in a a saucepan 1 cup of water and sugar and peel, cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved, set aside to cool. Meanwhile, mix together in a bowl the rest of the ingredients, and add in cooled sugar water mixture. Put the bowl in the fridge for at least an hour, but the longer the better. Following the directions on a ice cream maker, and you'll have a delicious and refreshing dessert and palate cleanser.

The sorbetto mixture

Finished product!

Carter checking out the ice cream maker