Chicken With Tomatoes and Peppers

Asked by Susanrotterdam. Answered on 3rd August 2015

Full question

The Chicken With Tomatoes And Peppers in Nigellissima mentions Marsala as an ingredient. What sort of sherry could I use as a substitute? Thank you, Susan.

Our answer

Nigella's Chicken With Tomatoes And Peppers (from Nigellissima) is a rich chicken stew that has a little Marsala added to the sauce. For this recipe a dry Marsala is more appropriate than a sweet one so it would be best to use a dry sherry as an alternative.

A dry Amontillado sherry is the closest to a Marsala as it is slightly deeper in colour and richer in flavour than a pale, dry Fino sherry. A Manzanilla would be the next closest dry sherry. You could also consider using a tawny port as another alternative to the Marsala. As the Marsala is not used in large quantities then you could also use some good quality chicken stock as a non-alcoholic alternative.