Italian Chicken Cacciatore with Sage and Prosciutto

Preparation time: 40 minutes. Serves 4 people (depending on the size of the chicken)

This is a yummy, typically-Italian variation of the famous Pollo alla Cacciatora recipe. The recipe is also extremely easy and fast to prepare - you will only need few minutes and then let it cook for 30 minutes!

Ingredients:

- 1 free-range Chicken or chopped free-range chicken pieces

- 100 gr Parma ham

- half glass red wine

- sage, rosemary, E-V olive oil, onion

Take a saucepan, add 7 tbsp E-V olive oil and 2 garlic cloves with their skin and put it over medium-low heat. Add the chicken pieces and continue cooking, stirring them about so as to brown all sides (5 minutes per side).

Once the ten minutes is up stir the wine into the pot and cook over a brisk flame until the wine evaporates. Dust with freshly ground pepper and salt on each side of the meat. 

 

When the wine has evaporated (i.e. when you don't smell alcohol in the air anymore), add the chopped herbs (8 leaves of sage and some rosemary) and the chopped ham (see pictures).

 

Mix well, cover, reduce the flame to a low simmer, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring, over a low flame until the meat is fork tender; should things look like they're beginning to stick down, add a little water. 

The dish is ready. This is what I call a mouth-watering recipe: the fat of the chicken melts with the fried and crunchy Parma ham making the perfect sauce... yes, yes, yes!

Try it now!

Pollo alla Romana: the recipe

Preparation time: 40 minutes.
Details: approx. €10 to serve 4 people.

Pollo alla Romana (chicken with peppers or pollo con i peperoni): one of the most classic recipes from Rome! And there's no better way to present this recipe but following the authentic hints by Sora Lella.

Yes, this mouth-watering recipe also allows us to pay a tribute to the glorious Sora Lella. Who was Sora Lella? Well an actress, show-woman, the sister of a old Italian actor and showman (Aldo Fabrizi) and the co-owner of the famous Rome restaurant, now named after her (Sora Lella, on the isola Tiberina).

She was known to the main public as the stereotype of the typical Roman citizen:  she embodied skepticism, wit, pragmatism, indolence, indifference, humor, self-irony and sarcasm.

Needless to say, she was extremely funny and a great cook: we could actually define her as a foodie. Her recipes represent the essence of Italian cuisine, sticking to the most orthodox tradition. For all Italian speakers, here is a small video describing this 100% authentic recipe. A real piece of History:

Argh, I love her! 

However, let's go back to our chicken recipe: this is an extremely cheap and easy recipe that will amaze anyone loving red peppers! Despite being a very simple mix of ingredients (like every  authentic Italian recipe), the taste is really incredible and red peppers are simply great for flavoring chicken meat.

Ingredients:

• Chicken pieces for 4 persons 
• 5 vine tomatoes
• 1 glass white wine
• 4 peppers
• salt, whole black pepper, rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves

First of all, as Sora Lella teaches us, be careful when selecting red peppers at the shop: they must be 4-cornered, which means they are sweet enough for the recipe. As you can see you really need few ingredients to deliver magic!

First of all, put the chicken pieces in a pan with some extra-virgin olive oil (not too much - we want to keep the recipe light!) and two garlic cloves (don't chop them otherwise the sauce will be too garlicky and we definitely don't want this) and heat the pan on a medium fire. Add some rosemary, some peppercorns and salt the chicken. 

Brown the chicken thoroughly from all sides. After 3 minutes add some a glass of white wine and make it evaporate properly for 1-2 minutes. What a nice smell!

Meanwhile, peel and chop the tomatoes and when ready put them in the pan together with the chicken.

Leave the tomatoes mix with the chicken and chop the red peppers as shown below. When ready put them in the pan and toss the chicken folding with peppers and the tomato sauce.

Leave the pan on a medium heat for about 30 minutes covering it with a lid. 

After 30 minutes have gone, try the sauce and add some salt if needed. Serve the chicken hot without adding anything. Pure simplicity. 

Pollo alla Romana is not only a recipe: it's History. This is the way Romans have been eating chicken for centuries. And this is simply....

... Incredible! Buon Appetito :-)

Quote: "Se Napoleone veniva a Roma se magnava er pollo che je facevo io" (Sora Lella)