Pollo Perfetto
When I first made this recipe, I wasn’t thinking how great it would be when the weather got too hot. First of all, it doesn’t use the oven so the house doesn’t heat up, but you do have to stand over the stove browning the chicken pieces. Even more helpful, though, is how it cooks, in the method of a stew. When I had it recently at my friend Giovanna’s house, because she was busy, she cooked it a day ahead. When I made it, in the midst of the unbearable heat we’ve been having, I made it in the morning, before it got too hot to cook, and it heated up beautifully not only later that day for dinner, but also the next evening as well!
GRAZIE, GIOVANNA!
by Elizabeth Baer
“You have to be sure to write the ‘o’ with the accent,” Giovanna writes in her email, “to distinguish it from another recipe from the north.” I’m trying to recreate the chicken dish I enjoyed at my friend Giovanna’s home in Gubbio, Italy, and I am beginning to realize, this is one of those dishes that has as many recipes as there are cooks!
The last part of my recent travels brought me to Gubbio, Italy, where I have spent a good bit of time with students, and where, as a consequence, I have very dear friends.
Gubbio is just a bit off the beaten path for most tourists, but has so much to offer. For this classicist, the Iguvine Tablets and the ruins of the Roman theater are of special interest, and Gubbio is also the “second” Franciscan city, where Saint Francis tamed the wolf. There is even a pilgrimage route between Gubbio and Assisi.
The local festival, La Festa dei Ceri, takes place every May 15, when three teams of people race up the mountain backdrop of the city to the Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo at the top, each team carrying a huge wooden structure for one of three saints: Sant’Ubaldo, San Giorgio, and Sant’Antonio. (You are born into your saint “team,” and in the case of a “mixed marriage” you follow your father. But unlike in other cities, my friends boast there is no antagonism or animosity among the teams, even though Sant’Ubaldo, the patron saint of Gubbio, always wins.) After that event, there is a second Ceri festival for the young adults to practice, honing their skills and choreography, as this race involves team members joining in and dropping off, since no single unchanging group could run all the way up the mountain. Finally, on June 2, is the last of the Ceri festivals, when the children begin to learn the ropes, and I got to watch! The kids were adorable, dressed up in the uniform of their saint, running all over town, excited to get to be a part of something they’ve watched the “big kids” and the adults do.
The night before, Giovanna made sure to feed me well for walking the streets of Gubbio, situated on the lower slope of Mount Ingino, up and down more than once, as she and my friends, Marina and Annalisa, brought me all over town to see various portions of La Festa dei Ceri Piccoli. She served friccò, a chicken dish, which Marina tells me she never makes with sausage. Doing some research online, I’ve found versions with lamb, rabbit, pancetta, and anchovies. Some of this is undoubtedly from the recipe’s roots in cucina povera, the cuisine of the poor, where people used whatever they might have – although from the many recipes I surveyed, it seems that they all always had a bit of wine! I’ve stayed true to Giovanna’s interpretation, for which, like any great cook, she didn’t give me much in the way of specifics. But when you have good ingredients and cook with love, a few simple ingredients can become something great.
FRICCÒ DI POLLO ALL’EUGUBINA
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup dry white wine
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed (stem discarded)
1 large clove garlic, peeled and sliced
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 chicken, 3-3.5 pounds, cut into 8 pieces, back reserved for another purpose
2 Italian sausages
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 small (14-15 ounce) can peeled plum or cherry tomatoes, or crushed tomatoes, about 1½ cups
DIRECTIONS:
Add the rosemary and garlic to the measuring cup with the wine. Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan that has a lid over medium-high heat until shimmering and fragrant. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and sausages all over and place in the pan, starting skin side down in the case of the chicken pieces, and brown well. Be patient, waiting for the skin or flesh to release from the pan before attempting to turn or remove to a bowl. If it’s tight in the pan, you can rotate pieces around until they shrink enough to make space. As pieces become golden, remove to a plate or a bowl. Cut the sausages in half to make 4 portions.
Once all the meat has been browned and removed, pour in the wine mixture, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken (skin side up) and sausage to the pan in one layer as much as possible, place the cover on askew, and simmer for about 10 minutes to let some of the wine evaporate.
Add the canned tomato and gently press down into gaps between chicken pieces. Bring back to a simmer, cover askew, and cook for 20-30 minutes until chicken is done.
Serve with something to soak up the juice, which, in Gubbio, would probably be a thick flat bread known as crescia, but Giovanna hasn’t told me how to make that one yet!