Pork Roast Marsala

This recipe is so easy it's barely a recipe at all. Tasty though.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs pork roast
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground pepper

Directions:

• Put everything in a slow cooker
  
• Cook on medium ("auto shift" on mine)
• When pork falls apart with a fork, stop cooking
• Pour through a sieve, collecting liquid in bowl
• Reduce liquid in a saucepan over high heat, whisking in 1 tbsp. flour until thickened
• Cut meat into bite-sized pieces
• Mix everything back together and serve.

Frugal Factor: Sorry, I lost my receipt so this is a guestimate. The pork was about $3.50, the mushrooms were too. Add $1 for all the other stuff. That's $8. I got 6 portions out of this. That's $1.33/portion. Serve it over rice for a more filling meal if you want.

Chicken Marsala w/ Escarole and Potatoes

Chicken Marsala may be a staple of catering hall buffets, but it’s one of my favorites. Marsala is a sweet fortified wine with a long shelf life, so I always have it in the pantry. On the side, I chopped and sautéed one head of escarole in garlic with a dash of chicken stock.I also nuked a couple russet potatoes, removed the skin, chopped into chuncks and sauteed in olive oil and herbs. Easy.

Ingredients:

• 8 Chicken Thighs, skinned, de-boned and pounded flatFlour seasoned with salt, pepper and dried herbs – Wondra works best.


• 1/4 cup olive oil


• 8 oz chopped mushrooms1 finely diced onion


• 6 cloves garlic


• 1 cup marsala wine


• 1-2 cups chicken stock


• 2 tablespoons butter
  

Directions:

1. Dredge the chicken in the flour.


2. Pour olive oil in 12” skillet and add whole garlic cloves and chicken, then turn on medium heat (trust me)


3. Brown chicken on both sides and set aside.


4. Stir about two tablespoons of the dredging flour into the olive oil to create a loose paste (roux).


5. Add mushrooms and onion and stir until cooked through.


6. Add marsala and scrape and fond off pan.


7. Crush up those garlic cloves.


8. Add chicken and enough stock to half cover the other ingredients.


9. Continue cooking until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, adding more stock or flour to get the desired gravy consistency.


10. After turning off heat, stir in a few tablespoons of butter to enrich the sauce.
    

Frugal Factor: 2lbs chicken at $1.89/lbs, $3.78. Mushrooms, $2, onion, garlic, wine, stock, oil, butter: $1.50 (est.). I made four servings, so that’s $1.82/serving not counting the sides, which would probably add $0.75/serving, for a total of $2.47/serving.