“Legend has it, a few magazine food editors were testing this dish, when one expressed they would literally marry it, if they could… Pair with a chilled glass of chardonnay, lit candles, and some Michael Bublé playing in the background.”

The Modern Proper website

I went to stay with some very old friends who I don’t see very often because they live in Canada. We only had two evenings together so time was precious, plus one of them was hobbling around in quite a bit of pain. So they fell back on their go-to quick and reliable dish of chicken with sundried tomatoes and cream. I watched, impressed, as they seemingly whipped it up in minutes. And on first bite I was smitten! Chicken is all too often dry and tasteless. This was not.

I immediately and shamelessly asked for the recipe. They told me it was called Marry Me Chicken, or sometimes, Tuscan Chicken. ‘Marry Me Chicken’ – what a marvellous name! It turns out it was at Delish magazine that editors exclaimed variously, “I’d marry you for that chicken,” and “OH MY GOD THAT’S MARRIAGE MATERIAL”.

I’m not too sure where the idea of this dish being ‘Tuscan’ came from. I’ve never come upon it whilst in Tuscany, and it’s nowhere to be seen in my Locatelli. It may be about as Italian as an English muffin is English…. if anyone has any better information, please add it in the comments.

There are many versions of this dish – The Modern Proper version, for example, doesn’t include spinach, and this version incorporates all kinds of small amendments made over the many times I’ve now made this, because, yep, it is oh so popular. One of the reasons I’m including this recipe as a post in Saucy Dressings is because I get asked for the recipe so often that it’s easier to just send a link to those ‘in need’.

Serve it with rice, or with pasta, or with mash, or even just with garlic bread and a green salad. It’s particularly good with wild rice. Think of it as a very versatile sauce – instead of chicken you could substitute veal, or a robust type of white fish such as monkfish. Consider adding some mushrooms. Or some lardons. Or some peas. And don’t forget the wine, the candles and the Michael Bublé.

And, as the practical Chief Taster pointed out when I tried out their recipe back at home, you can make it ahead of time and just warm through gently.

Popular Paterson Chicken AKA Marry Me Chicken

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Serves – 4

Ingredients

• 350g/12 oz chicken breast fillets (about 8 slim fillets)
• A few fresh herbs or some dried oregano
• Pinch Urfa pepper flakes, or some freshly ground black pepper
• 3 fat cloves of garlic
• some textured salt, about a teaspoon
• 1 red onion
• 6 sundried tomatoes (ideally in oil from a jar rather than the salted type. If you have the salted type make sure they are well rinsed
• 235g/2 cups frozen spinach, unfrozen
• 360ml/1½ cups double cream
• 15g/¼ cup grated parmesan
• Couple of grinds of nutmeg (optional)
• Olive oil for frying, two or three tbsps

Instructions

1. Get the oil hot in a large frying pan, and fry both sides of all the chicken pieces until just golden.
2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion. Remove the chicken from the pan and leave them to one side (not in the fridge). Reduce the heat, add a little extra oil if necessary, and add the onion. Fry gently.
3. Meanwhile peel and crush the garlic with the textured salt. Add to the onion.
4. Chop the sundried tomatoes. Add to the pan.
5. Make sure the spinach is well drained and add that. Stir. Add the cream, the nutmeg and the cheese, stir again.
6. Put the chicken pieces back in the pan. Make sure they are covered by the sauce. Heat gently for about five minutes.

This post is dedicated to Robin Paterson.

Music to cook to

Michael Bublé – Feeling Good