Chicken

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Chicken

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Note on roast or barbecue chicken

There are many recipes for roast chicken, and our family prepared it in the usual way, with no surprises. Same with barbecued or grilled chicken, although my Dad used little or no barbecue sauce. However, we had a beautiful, old sage bush in the garden and we always used plenty of fresh leaves from it, stuffing the leaves wherever you could on the bird, for both roast and barbecued chicken. Highly recommended.

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Chicken Cacciatore

This was a favorite of my uncle Bruno Mazzer.

Ingredients (based on a 3-lb. chicken; adjust accordingly for different weight)

3 lbs. spring chicken (or frying chicken), cut in pieces
½ cup flour
½ cup oil or butter
¼ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
½ cup chopped carrot
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 basil leaf
1 bay leaf
1 No. 2 can of tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes, in season)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. or more of black pepper
¼ cup marsala, sherry or white wine

Directions:

Dredge the chicken in flour, sprinkle with salt and brown slowly in oil or butter until golden brown on all sides in a big frying pan, Le Creuset or the like. Remove the chicken and place it in a covered dish in a warm place. Brown the onion, garlic, carrot, parsley, basil and bay leaf in the oil or butter left in the frying pan. Add the tomatoes, crushed, to the browned vegetables in the frying pan. Add the salt and pepper and bring this to a boil. Add the chicken and wine and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the chicken is tender and the sauce is at the desired consistency.

Tips: Shortening can be used instead of oil or butter.

You can add 1 tsp. of dried oregano, green pepper, substitute red for white wine, etc.

You can use tomato paste (1 small can) instead of tomatoes.