Easy elegance: veal marsala

Some friends came over for dinner one night not too long ago, and I arrived home from work only 20 minutes prior to their arrival.

In that 20 minutes, I set the table, put out cheese and olives, made a quick salad of baby greens and a simple vinaigrette, put some fingerling potatoes on to boil, and dredged three veal escalopes in flour.

After my friends arrived I prepared the veal marsala. It is so easy. It would be good with chicken too if you can find escalopes or if you want to make them yourself by pounding out chicken breasts.

Here is the recipe:

2 or 3 veal escalopes
1/2 or so of flour seasoned with salt and pepper
4T butter, divided in half
8oz mushrooms thinly sliced
1c. marsala
handful of parsley finely chopped

Melt 2T butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and cook about 10 minutes until the mushrooms begin to brown. Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside. Rinse and pat dry the veal. Dredge the veal in the flour. Melt the other 2T of butter over medium heat. Place the veal in the pan and cook until browned on each side. It shouldn't take much longer than a couple of minutes per side if the pieces are thin. Remove the veal to a dish. Add the marsala to deglaze the pan and turn up the heat. Reduce the wine for a couple of minutes. Add the mushrooms to the pan and warm. Pour over the veal, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

I really liked the fingerling potatoes with this dish. I boiled them and then stirred in some butter, roasted garlic and chopped parsley.