The Perfect Comfort Food, Chicken Arthur Avenue

Named for the main street in the Bronx’s Little Italy where Rich’s Mother Cleonice grew up, Chicken Arthur Avenue has all the classic Italian flavors of Chicken Marsala. We didn’t open Cleonice with this dish on the menu, but once Rich created it our regulars fell in love. Rich is always innovating and he’d try to change up our chicken dish every once in a while, often to cries of dismay from a customer who came in that night just for Chicken Arthur. It’s decidedly a comfort food, served with mashed potatoes and rich with Marsala and mushroom gravy it definitely tastes like home.

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Chicken Arthur Avenue at Cleonice. We made it at the restaurant with a Statler breast which includes the first wing joint.

Chicken Arthur is made with a pan sauce, and the flavor is built up in layers. It’s a dish to take your time with, a labor of love. If you want to really start from scratch, head back to last weeks post on chicken stock and boning chicken breasts and start there.

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Gather together your ingredients and start your mise. You’ll need pomace olive oil for your pan too, but mine’s always sitting by the stove.

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Slice your mushrooms, mince your shallots, dice your pancetta, and chop your herbs.

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In a shallow bowl combine flour and half teaspoon each salt and pepper.

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Dredge your chicken breasts to coat all sides. This flour is what thickens your gravy. If you omit it you’ll have a thinner sauce. If you don’t do gluten, you might want to use a substitute flour here, rice or arrowroot or such, which will thicken your gravy but have a different texture.

Heat a saute pan then add a tablespoon or two of pomace olive oil (do not use extra virgin to cook with).

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When the pan is sizzling hot, add your dredged chicken breasts skin side down.

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Add pancetta to the pan between the chicken breasts to render. Allow to cook together for about four minutes.

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Your chicken should be nicely browned now, flip the breasts over.

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Add the shallots to the pan with the pancetta…

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…and saute until they start to become translucent.

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Add your mushrooms to the sides of the pan and stir them into the pancetta and shallots.

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Saute the mushrooms for a minute or two until mostly cooked, then add the Marsala to deglaze. Here Rich is shaking the pan while pouring in the Marsala. That’s not Tinkerbell on the upper left, that’s a flame. The alcohol may flare up like this, don’t be alarmed, it burns off quickly. Allow the Marsala to cook down for at least 30 seconds. (Here’s another layer of flavor).

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Add your chicken stock and incorporate it into the gravy that you are making.

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When your gravy comes to a vigorous simmer like this, add your chopped herbs…

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…and cover. You’re making a little steamy oven to cook your chicken breasts through. Cook for 3-4 minutes covered.

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Check your chicken at the thickest part of the breast for doneness. You should see no pink. If you see pink, replace the cover and allow to cook a for another minute or two. If your sauce or gravy becomes too reduced while cooking the chicken, add a little more stock. If your sauce is too loose and your chicken is done continue to cook uncovered, allowing it to reduce to the consistency of maple syrup.

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When you’ve reached your maple syrup consistency it’s time to mount with butter. This will give you another depth of flavor and richness. Allow the butter to melt and stir into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to your taste.

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We’re serving our Chicken Arthur tonight with mashed potatoes and garlicky broccoli. Here’s a little restaurant tip on serving, we’re going to plate the chicken right on top of the mashed potatoes so it gives the dish a visual lift.

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First place the chicken breast on top of the potatoes then pour the gravy over the top.

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And there it is, perfectly delicious and homey.

The Perfect Comfort Food, Chicken Arthur Avenue
Author: 
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 1Tb Pomace Olive Oil
  • 2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
  • ½ c All Purpose Flour
  • ½ tsp Kosher Salt
  • ½ tsp Pepper
  • ¼ cup Pancetta small dice
  • 1 Shallot Minced
  • 1 cup Crimini Mushrooms Sliced
  • 2 oz Dry Marsala
  • 6 oz Chicken Stock
  • 1 TB Fresh Sage Chopped
  • Generous pinch of Fresh Rosemary and Thyme Chopped
  • 2 TB Butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Slice your mushrooms, mince your shallots, dice your pancetta, and chop your herbs.
  2. In a shallow bowl combine flour and half teaspoon each salt and pepper.
  3. Dredge your chicken breasts to coat all sides. This flour is what thickens your gravy. If you omit it you'll have a thinner sauce.
  4. Heat a saute pan then add a tablespoon or two of pomace olive oil. When the pan is sizzling hot, add your dredged chicken breasts skin side down.
  5. Add pancetta to the pan between the chicken breasts to render. Allow to cook together for about four minutes.
  6. Your chicken should be nicely browned now, flip the breasts over.
  7. Add the shallots to the pan with the pancetta and saute until they start to become translucent.
  8. Add your mushrooms to the pan and stir them into the pancetta and shallots.
  9. Saute the mushrooms for a minute or two until mostly cooked, then add the Marsala to deglaze.
  10. Add your chicken stock and incorporate it into the gravy that you are making.
  11. When your gravy comes to a vigorous simmer, add your chopped herbs and cover the pan.
  12. Cook for 3-4 minutes covered.
  13. Check your chicken at the thickest part of the breast for doneness. You should see no pink. If you see pink, replace the cover and allow to cook a for another minute or two. If your sauce or gravy becomes too reduced while cooking the chicken, add a little more stock. If your sauce is too loose and your chicken is done continue to cook uncovered, allowing it to reduce to the consistency of maple syrup.
  14. Mount your sauce with butter, add the two tablespoons of butter and allow to melt, mixing the butter into your sauce.
  15. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable of your choice.

 

Notes 

If you don’t have your own homemade chicken stock, there are many available at the grocery store. Check the ingredients and choose the one with the fewest (or no) chemical sounding ingredients. We often use the Kitchen Basics brand. Use low or no sodium stock if possible as when you reduce stock it can intensify the salt content which may overpower your dish. If your stock is salted, make sure you taste before you add any salt when you finish the dish.

This dish can be scaled up to feed a crowd easily and is also delicious with chicken thighs instead of breasts. At the restaurant we used a Statler breast, which has the first joint of the wing bone attached. This gives the gravy a little more flavor and you get a little dark meat along with your white meat.

Olive oils: Pomace (or not extra virgin) olive oil has most if not all of the particles of olive removed and thus can stand a higher temperature without burning. You may alternately use another high heat oil like grape seed in place of the olive oil here. Extra virgin olive oil has bits of olive that will burn at high temps and become bitter.

 

Cary Hanson

About Cary Hanson

My husband and I didn't have children, we had a restaurant. For twelve and a half years we poured body and soul into Cleonice Mediterranean Bistro. We worked closely with local farmers, fishermen, and food artisans, doing our best to support our local community. We made great friends, beautiful food, and had a lot of fun. As Rich and I rediscover ourselves as our own beings outside of the all-consuming restaurant we have time to share our recipes and reminisce about Cleonice.