The United States of Arugula is featured at Cook the Books

The featured book at Cook the Books is The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution by David Kamp.




What an informative book and my goodness, it covers so much of our food revolution! What more could you ask for regarding selection of chefs and foodie personalities? To go over all the remarkable men and women in the industry and their significant contributions would be a pale rehash of what David Kamp created with this book. A compendium of stories I could flip open and go back to time and again. This isn't a book that will be making it's way to the used book store for trade.

Mr. Kamp is a wonderful storyteller and I certainly had vivid images of some scenes he painted. Particularly of Claiborne :-)

With so many of my favorites such as Bourdain, Child, Beard, etc it was an open field to select one and make an inspired dish. As I haven't visited my Francophile side in a bit, I decided on Julia Child.

Chicken Marsala from our American chef Julia.



I love the aroma of the Marsala as it hits the hot pan, slathering the mushrooms and onions and blending with the flour to make a sauce.

I like serving it over linguine pasta instead of egg noodles as you often see.



Ingredients used:

1 1/2 lb. chicken cutlets
3 TB olive oil
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. Marsala wine
Splash of white wine (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter
12 or more ounces of sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, diced

Directions:

Heat olive oil and one tablespoon butter in large pan. Saute cutlets in butter until they start to brown. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Now take sliced mushrooms and onions........Add more butter to the pan if needed and brown onion, then add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Saute for 1-2 minutes until mushrooms are cooked.

Gradually sift flour into pan, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and Marsala. Stir until slightly thick and add a tad more flour if needed.

Return chicken to the pan and gently turn pieces so they are coasted with the saucy Marsala and mushrooms.

I will send this to Jo at Food Junkie and I thank her for hosting. Cook the Books post for this selection may be found HERE

Cheers to all and for those participating, I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did.