Italian Grill - Mario Batali [43]
Guinea hens are smaller than most American chickens, and they have more flavor. You will never see me cook boneless chicken breasts, but I do grill boneless guinea hen breasts (if you can’t get guinea hen, though, you can make the dish with chicken). The only tricky part is making sure not to overdo it, since once you’ve taken the bones out, it’s easy to overcook the meat. Just pay attention, and pull them off the fire when they are deep brown but still very juicy.
TURKEY SAUSAGES
WITH SAGE FLATBREADS AND MOSTARDA
SERVES 10
DOUGH
3¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2½ tablespoons finely minced fresh sage
1 cup warm water
¼ cup dry white wine, at room temperature
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
10 turkey sausages (not precooked; I like fennel seeds in them) Mostarda di Cremona (see page 18) for serving
Hot purple horseradish for serving
IN A LARGE BOWL, combine the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and sage and mix well. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the warm water, wine, and olive oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry until the mixture is too stiff to stir, then mix with your hands in the bowl until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn the dough out. Knead gently, dusting the work surface lightly with more flour as necessary, for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, elastic, and only slightly sticky.
Oil a large clean bowl, add the dough, and turn to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel, set in a warm part of the kitchen, and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Gently punch down the dough, turn out onto a cutting board or work surface, and cut into 10 pieces. Roll each piece under your palm into a ball, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes (the dough will not double in size).
Preheat a gas grill or prepare a fire in a charcoal grill.
On a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin or your hands, roll or press each ball of dough into a 6-inch round (if a piece of dough resists or shrinks back, let it rest briefly while you roll out another piece, then return to the first one). Place the rounds on the hottest part of the grill (in batches if necessary) and cook for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, or until puffy and golden brown on the first side. Turn over and cook until the second side is spotted with brown, 1 to 1 ½ minutes. Transfer to a large platter or a baking sheet and let rest while you cook the sausages.
Prick each sausage five or six times and place on the cooler part of the grill. Grill, rolling the sausages around to cook on all sides, until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a platter.
Toss the flatbreads onto the grill for a minute or so to warm them up, then transfer to the platter or pile in a basket. Serve with the mostarda and horseradish.
These little sage flatbreads are very easy and will work with just about anything from the grill. Make sandwiches with turkey or other sausages, grilled meats, whatever you like. Look for good turkey sausages at a butcher’s or specialty market; be sure the ones you buy are not the precooked type.
SPIT-ROASTED
CHICKEN
WITH WINE GRAPES AND PANZANELLA
SERVES 4
One 3½- to 4-pound chicken
½ lemon
RUB
1 tablespoon sweet pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika)
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
PANZANELLA
12 ounces day-old Italian