The two dishes can't be compared. I've never made Marbella but have looked at the ingredients. Marsala is basically a mushroom pan sauce made with Marsala wine. It's really good and it's an impressive dish for company. Give it a try!!!

If you're making the dish, you want a sweet Marsala (sweet Marsala Fine, if you can get it). No worries about buying a bottle for one dish; it keeps just fine.

I do have a recipe if you need it. Just let me know.

My two (or ten) cents.

Marsala is a fortified wine, like sherry and port (don't try to substitute either because the flavours are distinctly different).

Some years ago I read about Chicken Marsala in a book where it was someone's favourite dish. So I bought a bottle of Marsala and tested three or four variations of the recipe before I gave up trying to make it good and left out the Marsala with good results. My Chicken non-Marsala is quite a popular dish for company.

Next I tried ordering it in a restaurant and still didn't like it.

If it helps, the Marsala I bought was semi-sweet and tasted dire on its own. The bottle was labelled "cooking wine", which should have been a warning to me. I think probably a good quality (which this was certainly not) dry Marsala might be good for making the dish.

This post was edited by netla on Mon, Mar 24, 14 at 11:33

They are totally different types of preparation. Chicken Marbella, as you know, is made from a long list of varied ingredients, it involves marinating, and uses a whole chicken. Chicken Marsala is generally just the breast, butterflied, and then quickly sauteed with the Marsala wine. It's a lovely, simple, flavorful dish- but there is really no comparison to be made between the two.

Marsala wine is made from white grapes, it can be sweet OR dry, and is used in a wide variety of ways in cooking in Italy, especially in Central ad Southern areas. Zabaglione, a sweet, cooked custard sauce, is one of the more famous examples. It's also wonderful in soup, especially chicken soup or mushroom soup, whether its creamy or clear. If you're going to buy Marsala to cook with, DO NOT buy the cheap American "Marsala" made by Masson or Taylor- those are foul and will add nothing but cheap saltiness to your food. Cantino Florio is a good producer of REAL Marsala (which comes from Sicily, and ONLY from Sicily). You can buy it in dry OR sweet versions, and a 750 ml bottle will generally not cost more than $15, and after you open it, it will last in the fridge for quite a long time.

RE: Marbella-

I agree with you-It's one of my all time favorite dinner party dishes. You can make it long in advance, and it gets better after it sits longer. However, I've gotten tired of the original recipe in the Silver Palate cookbook- it has too much sugar! I've also decided that its MUCH better when made with thighs ONLY! Breast meat doesn't need to be marinated like that, and if it sits too long in the marinade, it just gets mushy. I experimented and made a version of Marbella using tomato paste and Madeira, instead of sugar. Also, depending on your taste, you might try using GOOD dried apricots instead of prunes sometime. It was SOOOO GOOD!!! That combo of capers, olives and dried fruit is also delicious with pork, whether you use a grilled chop, or a roasted tenderloin. I almost always serve Marbella with saffron rice. I tihnk it's time for a Marbella dinner party!!!

Zachary

Re: Marbella. Zachary, I agree on the chicken breasts - I generally make it with drumsticks or wings (and reduce the sugar by about a third).