Chicken Marsala

I love to cook with wine! I have experimented with many recipes that included wine but it wasn't until 6 years ago that I experimented with marsala wine. It has such a distinct flavor. There is one thing that I have learned about cooking with wine is that you never ever cook with wine that you are not prepared to drink. If your palate can not stand to drink it then you probably will not like it in your food. You can use cooking wine on the fly if you do not have any other choice and I used to use it all of the time because of convenience and of course price but cooking wine tends to be salty. Believe me I love salt but not that way! 
One of my favorite dishes I used to order when I was out is Chicken Marsala. The mushrooms, the marsala sauce drizzled on the moist yummy chicken sooo yummy!!! I tried many recipes and there were facets of all of them I liked but always something missing so I came up with this one. I hope you like it!!!

Chicken Marsala

3 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp dried thyme
1 large shallot diced (you can use 3/4 cup finely diced onion)
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms sliced
3/4 cup marsala wine
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 pkt. mushroom gravy
2 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with thyme and if desired salt and pepper.
In a large pan heat up 1/2 off the oil on med-high.
Place chicken in pan and brown on both sides for about 5 minutes. 
Remove chicken to a plate until all pieces are browned.
Add the remainder of the oil to the pan.  
Add shallots (or onions) to the pan and saute for 2 minutes.
Add mushrooms and saute until shallots (or onion) and mushrooms are tender.
Add the gravy packets to the pan with the veggies (this will create a roux), stir continuously for about 1 minute until blended well. 
Add the wine and chicken broth stirring continuously until heated. 
Add chicken making sure to spoon gravy on top of the chicken.  
Lower the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened and bubbly.
Remove from the heat and let rest for 5-10 minutes. 
Serve and enjoy!!