Chicken Canzanese (Italian Braised Chicken)
I was watching one of my favorite PBS cooking shows, America’s Test Kitchen, a few weeks ago and they prepared this dish and it piqued my interest. Since I am a subscriber on their website I pulled the recipe down and made it last night fo
r dinner. After having made this recipe, I can tell you that the reduction steps are the key to this recipe. You must allow enough time for the liquids to reduce in two separate steps. This is especially true of the second reduction after the chicken has come out of the oven. If you do not allow it enough time to reduce you will wind up with a sauce that
is too watery.
While shopping for the various ingredients for this recipe I discovered that our grocery store takes the last of the Prosciutto wholes and dices them into small containers for those of us that are only looking for a few ounces for a recipe. The difference between what they charge for cutting a 2 oz. piece off of the cured ham ($19.99 per lb.) or picking up the pre-diced container is quite drastic ($6.99 per lb.). Also, I chose not to add the red pepper flakes so I have marked them optional in the recipe ingredients below.
And lastly, when I find recipes that combine multiple steps in one step online, I like to break them up into more easily read and understood steps. Their recipe called for 4 steps. As you can see, their 4 steps turned into 21 actual steps. Even though there are 21 steps, it is actually quite an easy dish to prepare.
Ingredients:
1 T Olive Oil
2 oz. Prosciutto (1/4 inch thick), cut into 1/4-inch cubes
4 Medium Garlic Cloves , sliced thin lengthwise
8 Chicken Thighs, bone in, skin on, and trimmed of excess fat and skin
Ground Black Pepper
2 t Flour
2 C Dry White Wine
1 C Chicken Stock
4 Whole Cloves
1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary, finely minced, and stem reserved
12 Fresh Sage Leaves, whole
2 Bay Leaves
Red Pepper Flakes, to taste for heat (Optional)
1 T Lemon Juice (about 1 Lemon)
2 T Unsalted Butter
Table Salt
Directions:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325-degrees.
2. Heat 1 t of oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed oven safe skillet over medium heat until shimmering. (Shimmering means when it spreads around the pan.)
3. Add prosciutto and cook, stirring frequently, until just starting to brown, about 3 minutes.
4. Add garlic slices and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic and prosciutto to small bowl and set aside. Do not rinse pan.
5. Increase heat to medium-high; add remaining 2 teaspoons oil and heat until just
smoking.
6. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with ground black pepper.
7. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until well browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
8. Using tongs, turn chicken and brown on second side, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate.
9. Remove all but 2 T oil from pan. (Pour all of the oil into a measuring cup and then add the 2 T back to the pan, discard the rest.)
10. Create a roux by sprinkling flour over oil and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
11. Slowly add wine and broth; bring to simmer, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits (fond).
12. Cook until liquid is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.
13. Stir in cloves, rosemary stem, sage leaves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and reserved prosciutto and garlic.
14. Nestle chicken into liquid, skin side up (skin should be above surface of liquid), and bake, uncovered, until meat offers no resistance when poked with fork but is not falling off bone, about 1 hour 15 minutes. (Check chicken after 15 minutes; broth should be barely bubbling. If bubbling vigorously, reduce oven temperature to 300-degrees.)
15. Using tongs, transfer chicken to serving platter and tent with foil.
16. Remove and discard sage leaves, rosemary stem, cloves, and bay leaves.
17. Place skillet over high heat and bring sauce to boil.
18. Cook until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 2 to 5 minutes.
19. Once reduced, take off heat, stir in minced rosemary, lemon juice, and butter.
20. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
21. Pour sauce around chicken and serve.
Three words…mmm, mmm, mmm! Even my super picky 12yr old gobbled it up
Although a thorough reading is always recomended, a mise en place would be a great set up for this recipe. Kinda sucks to have smoking oil to read at that moment you needed to have already peppered your chicken. Maybe four steps was better. Either way, it was a great dish. Served with lightly steamed asparagus and rosemary sage polenta with garlic, butter and parm.