Dish of Chicken with Red Wine
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Chicken with Red Wine


Italy   -   Pollo al Vino Rosso
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 main
***
1-1/4 hr
Yes		 Made as I have outlined, this dish has an intensely flavored sauce, and a fair amount of it. See Changes and Serving.




2
1/2
1-1/2
6
ar
2
1
1
1/4
1/2
2/3
1/3
#
oz
oz
oz

T
T
T
c
c
t
t
Chicken meat (1)  
Porcini, dry (2)
Bacon (3)
Onion
Flour
Butter
Olive Oil
Butter
Brandy
Red Wine
Salt
Pepper black
Prep   -   (20 min)
  1. Soak PORCINI in hot water for a couple of hours. When soft, Drain, squeeze out excess water and cut into small pieces. Since the recipe as listed here needs extra water, I use the soaking liquid (less any sand in the bottom). No sense in wasting the expensive flavor.
  2. Cut CHICKEN about 1-1/2 to 2 inches on a side (see Note-1 for details).
  3. Cut BACON into small pieces similar to the Porcini.
  4. Chop ONION fine.
Run   -   (55 min)
  1. Lightly flour Chicken, shaking off any excess.
  2. In a spacious sauté pan heat 2 T Butter and 1 T Olive Oil. Fry chicken pieces in batches until lightly browned on all sides, removing and setting aside to drain. Add a little more oil for later batches if needed.
  3. Add 1 T Butter to the pan and fry Bacon over moderate heat until the fat is translucent. Stir in Onions and Mushrooms. Fry stirring until Onions are translucent.
  4. Stir in Chicken and fry stirring until well warmed through.
  5. Pour Brandy over. You can light it off if you wish, but stand well back, the flames will be high. When Brandy has evaporated, stir in Wine and bring to a boil.
  6. Add sufficient water for a simmering sauce (I include mushroom soaking liquid). Season with Salt and Pepper. Turn down the heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until Chicken is tender, stirring now and then. If it gets too dry, stir in some boiling water.
  7. Check seasoning and serve hot with pasta or potatoes.
NOTES:

  1. Chicken:

      Weight is for skinless, boneless with all excess fat removed. Thigh and leg meat have much better flavor and texture than cardboard flavored breasts we get around here. The pattern recipe used a whole 2-1/2 pound chicken, cut into serving pieces and fried skin-on, but meat pieces work better for buffet, and to reduce fights at the family table. Note that the smaller you c ut the pieces, the more sauce you will have to have because there will be more flour. Best to keep them around 2 inches or so, 1-1/2 inches minimum.

  2. Porcini Mushrooms:

      These are very expensive, but quite strong. I buy them from Nuts.com in an 8 ounce bag for a better price. If you don't have them use fresh mushrooms, like Crimini, or the small king trumpet mushrooms now common here in Southern California, perhaps 4 ounces.

  3. Bacon:

      The pattern recipe calls for bacon in the steps, but fails to include it in the ingredients list (fairly common in cookbooks published in England), so the amount is mine and I cut back a bit on butter. You can omit the bacon and increase the butter if you wish.

  4. Changes:

      Aside from the changes described in Note-1 and Note-3, the pattern recipe was served in a pre-baked pastry pie shell, the completed chicken arranged in the shell and served hot. This may be fine for a sit-down dinner, but not for buffet service or reheating, so I skip the pie shell.

  5. Service:

      Served in the pie shell, I doubt this dish would be preceeded by a pasta course, perhaps a soup course instead. Served without the pie shell, the sauce would be used with pasta for a pasta course and the chicken served as the next course. Here in California we serve meat and pasta together, minimizing the number of courses.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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