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Pan-Roasted Chicken with Rosemary, Garlic and White Wine
from Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella
Hazan. As with many other Marcella Hazan recipes, this dish
proves that delicious meals need not be complicated. Hazan's
cookbooks are full of entertaining and helpful comments that
may remind you of the Rombauers. For this reason they are
highly suitable for beginning cooks.
1 tablespoon (15 mL) butter
2 tablespoons (30 mL) vegetable oil
A 3 1/4 lb (1.4 kg) chicken, cut into 4 pieces [this is the
only chicken recipe where I leave the skin on]
2 or 3 garlic cloves, peeled [6 or 7 is better, pureed in the
blender]
1 sprig of fresh rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dried leaves
salt
fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup (115 mL) dry white wine
- 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. [I use all corn
oil instead since I almost never cook with butter. Save the
jiblets in the freezer to make soup stock at a later date.]
- 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. [I add a couple of
dried New Mexico chiles too.] Let the wine simmer briskly for
about 30 seconds, then adjust heat to cook at a low 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 becomes insufficient,
replenish it will 1 or 2 tablespoons water as needed. [Bah!
Pour in more white wine.]
- When done, transfer the chicken to a warm serving
platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula. Remove the garlic
from the pan. [Why??] Tip the pan, spooning off all but a
little of the fat. Turn the heat up to high and boil the
water away while lossening cooking residues from the bottom
and sides with a wooden spoon. Pour the pan juices over the
chicken and serve at once. [Serve with brown rice, which
absorbs the gravy better than white.]
.
alison@exerciseforthereader.org
(Alison Chaiken)
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