Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [155]
Ahead-of-time note If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven. If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
Oven-Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary
For 4 servings
A 3½-pound chicken
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary OR 1 heaping teaspoon dried leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Wash the chicken inside and out with cold water, and pat thoroughly dry with cloth or paper towels.
3. Put one of the fresh rosemary sprigs, or half the dried leaves, inside the bird’s cavity together with all the garlic, salt, and pepper.
4. Rub 1 tablespoon of the oil over the chicken’s skin, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Strip the leaves from the remaining sprig of rosemary, and sprinkle them over the bird, or sprinkle the remaining dried leaves. Put the chicken together with the remaining tablespoon of oil in a roasting pan, and place it on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Every 15 minutes, turn and baste it with the fat and cooking juices that collect in the pan. Cook until the thigh feels very tender when prodded with a fork, and the meat comes easily off the bone, about 1 hour or more.
5. Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter. Tip the roasting pan and spoon off all but a small amount of fat. Place the pan over the stove, turn the heat on to high, add 2 tablespoons of water, and while it boils away, use a wooden spoon to scrape loose any cooking residues stuck to the bottom. Pour the pan juices over the chicken and serve at once.
Pan-Roasted Chicken with Rosemary, Garlic, and White Wine
For 4 servings
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
A 3½-pound chicken, cut into 4 pieces
2 or 3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 sprig of fresh rosemary broken in two OR ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
½ cup dry white wine
1. Put the butter and oil in a saute pan, turn on the heat to medium high, and when the butter foam begins to subside, put in the chicken quarters, skin side down.
2. Brown the chicken well on both sides, then add the garlic and rosemary. Cook the garlic until it becomes colored a pale gold, and add salt, pepper, and the wine. Let the wine simmer briskly for about 30 seconds, then adjust heat to cook at a slow simmer, and put a lid on the pan, setting it slightly ajar. Cook until the bird’s thigh feels very tender when prodded with a fork, and the meat comes easily off the bone, calculating between 20 and 25 minutes per pound. If while the chicken is cooking, you find the liquid in the pan has become insufficient, replenish it with 1 or 2 tablespoons water as needed.
3. When done, transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula. Remove the garlic from the pan. Tip the pan, spooning off all but a little of the fat. Turn the heat up to high, and boil the water away while loosening cooking residues from the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon. Pour the pan juices over the chicken and serve at once.
Chicken Fricassee, Cacciatora Style
Cacciatora means hunter’s style, and since there has always been a hunter in nearly every Italian household, every Italian cook prepares a dish with a claim to that description. Making generous allowances for the uncounted permutations in the dishes that go by the cacciatora name, what they generally consist of is a chicken or rabbit fricassee with tomato, onion, and other vegetables. And that is exactly what this is.
For 4 to 6 servings
A 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut into 6 to 8 pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Flour, spread on a plate
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
⅓ cup onion sliced very thin
⅔ cup dry white wine
1 sweet yellow or red bell pepper, seeds and core removed and cut into thin julienne strips
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin disks
½ stalk celery sliced