Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup marsala
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 - 1/3 cup flour
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Butter

1. Pound chicken breasts to about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness with the FLAT side of a meat mallet. To decrease the mess and splattering, put each breast between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper before pounding. (I've also seen this done with an empty wine bottle instead of a meat mallet, but I've never tried it.)

2. Put about a tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan (I prefer nonstick) and melt it on medium heat. Add the mushrooms and green onions (and a little salt) and cook until the mushrooms are done to your liking. Remove these from the pan and set them aside.

3. On a large plate, combine the flour with thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix it up and coat the chicken with the flour mixture.

4. Add more butter to the same frying pan and melt it on medium to medium-high heat. Add the floured chicken pieces to the pan and cook for about four minutes per side, until they're done. (I usually need to add more butter when I turn them.)

5. Put the mushrooms and green onions back into the pan and add the chicken stock and marsala. Turn the heat down and simmer for a while until the sauce is the desired consistency, turning the chicken once to make sure the sauce covers all sides. (I like my sauce kind of thick, but remember that it thickens more as it cools.)

6. Serve hot, with some of the sauce and mushrooms on each piece. A good side dish with this is fettucine alfredo, or plain white rice.

[Note: This recipe is easily adjusted for more or fewer people. One chicken breast per person, don't cut down on the other ingredients for fewer people, though. Add more mushrooms and/or onions if you like them a lot, and definitely add more of everything for more people. I've done it for six people, and used about 1/2 cup of marsala and chicken stock for that number.]

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 stalk celery
1 large carrot
1 onion
2 cups flour
4 tablespoons shortening
salt
pepper
thyme
garlic powder

1. Remove the innards from the chicken and rinse with cold water. Place it in a large stock pot (with the innards, which you can later eat or discard, or without -- your preference).

2. Wash the celery and carrot. Roughly chop the celery, carrot, and onion and add them to the pot. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic powder (or whole garlic cloves) to taste.

3. Cover the whole thing with water and put it on the stove on medium high heat until it boils. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few hours, skimming the top (a greyish or yellowish scum forms on top while it boils) a few times. Cook until the chicken is done and falling off the bone, adding more water as necessary to keep the chicken covered.

4. Remove the chicken from the pot and put it on a plate (or in a big bowl) to cool. Strain all the bits of veggies and other random particles from the stock. (At this point, if you want to cool and defat the stock, go ahead and do it.)

5. Cut the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender or two butter knives until the mixture has lumps no bigger than the size of a pea. Add water a little at a time until the whole thing comes together in a ball.

6. Roll the mixture on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1/4" to 1/8" (I like mine fairly thick). Cut into strips about 1" wide, then into rectangles slightly longer than 1".

7. Bring the stock to a boil and drop the rectangles in one by one, until they're all in there. Reduce the heat a bit and let those cook.

8. Remove all the chicken meat from the bones, discarding all bits of fat and all the bones. Cut or tear the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.

9. When the pastry is almost done (it takes at -least- 30 minutes), add the chicken to the pot and stir it all up. Cook until the pastry is completely done (you have to taste to tell). Taste it and add salt and pepper as necessary while it's still cooking (sometimes I also add a little chicken boullion, which is always necessary if you're not using a whole chicken). The stock should thicken considerably so it's more like a stew than a soup.

10. Serve hot, in bowls, with a sprinkling of black pepper on top.

[Note: This serves a lot of people, but leftovers are really good for lunch the next day. I have also scaled this down some by using about 1/2 a chicken and less pastry. You can also buy the frozen "thin dumplings" things and use those instead of the pastry, but it's not as good, or as true to the original.]

Enjoy!