Chicken with Peppers

Pollo ai Peperoni

You may have noticed the last few days I’ve been spotlighting Lola, my new friend from Italy who writes a wonderful blog called Aglio, Olio & Peperoncino - Personal Thoughts On All Things Tasty. Lola is a very good writer and if you are into Italian cuisine and culture like I am, I think you owe it to yourself to take a peak at her blog.

I was doing just that, reading about her poultry vendor, Massimo, “her pollaralo” who sells not only chicken but turkey, rabbit, hare, and game birds. She describes how she has been going to this market since she was a little girl and now takes her 4-year-old son there. It’s a craftily written piece that ties the past to the present and finishes with a great recipe for Pollo ai Peperoni or Chicken with Peppers, a classic Roman dish that Massimo handed down to Lola’s mother 25 years ago. Very cool.

I prepared this recipe for some friends on Sunday night and served it with lasagna I pulled out of the freezer that needed to be eaten. We dinned outside under the pergola enjoying a perfect September evening, not too warm - not too cool.

I served the lasagna first as the Primo (first course) and the chicken second (secondo) along with a salad and lots of wine. The lasagna was good but a little runny however the Pollo ai Peperoni was extraordinary. The flavor of the slow cooked peppers combined with the chicken, tomatoes and other ingredients worked together this night just like they must have generations ago. Best of all, the leftovers were even better the next night.

I doubled the amount of chicken but not the peppers. This may have been a mistake but nobody noticed and more importantly, nobody complained. There were no requests for seconds but I think that had more to do with serving a big slice of lasagna first. Lola warned me the way Italians eat is much different then we do here in the US and it takes some getting use to.

So here are some photos of how I put this recipe together but if you would like the recipe along with Lola’s interesting story about the dish, go to Pollo ai Peperoni.

You may also want to read my Interview with Lola.

Food Writer & Blogger Lola

Friends Barbecue Bob & Bert

Chicken Salad - The Perfect Way To Use Up Leftover Roasted Chicken

Whether you roast your chicken yourself or you purchase a spit roasted whole chicken at the supermarket, there is usually some left over after the meal. There are so many ways to use the chicken that books have been written and probably web sites devoted to this subject.

One way I like to use up leftover roasted chicken is a simple chicken salad especially in the summer when it’s hot. I can’t give you a specific recipe because I don’t know exactly how much chicken we are talking about. It’s different each time I make it. I also like to use “what’s on hand” ingredients that my family I enjoy most. You can do the same with your chicken salad.

In this recipe I used pumpkin seeds because I didn’t have any sesame seeds but you can use any kind of seeds or nuts you like.  You often see chicken salad with walnuts but why not try pistachios?

I used Craisins because the seedless grapes I wanted to use were past their prime. For those of you unfamiliar with Craisins, they are dried cranberries produced by Ocean Spray. I’m not sure but I think they have some added sweeteners added. No wonder my daughter loves them in her lunchbox.  I could have used plain old raisins too. It’s more about what you like and what’s available.

I find the homemade mayonnaise is just more flavorful than any commercial mayo you can buy and is so easy to make yourself. The color is a pale yellow compared to the white mayo we are used to. Of course you can use your own favorite commercial mayonnaise but I know if you make it from scratch yourself, you will be hooked.

Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• Leftovers from 1 whole roasted chicken
• Homemade mayonnaise
• 2 stalks of celery
• Craisins
• pumpkin seeds
• fresh tarragon
• Salt & pepper to taste

How to Make A Simple Chicken Salad With Leftovers

Start by picking through the leftover chicken and picking off pieces of chicken. Using a paring knife, remove any small bones, cartilage or fat from the chicken. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and reserve.

Make your homemade mayonnaise.

Finely dice the celery stalks and get the rest of your ingredients ready. Be sure to finely chop the fresh tarragon which is so much better than dried tarragon in this recipe. The flavor of this herb ready gives a power boost of flavor.

Combine the chicken pieces with celery, Craisins, pumpkin seeds  and fresh tarragon. Mix in some of the homemade mayonnaise a little at a time. You want a nice balance of mayo to chicken salad. Just like dressing a salad, you don’t want to overpower the rest of the ingredients with mayo. It is easier to add more mayo than removing it.

Using a large spoon, turn the chicken salad over to combine all the ingredients. Don’t over work it. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

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How to Make Coq au Vin at Home

When you think of Coq au Vin, do you think “this must be a difficult French dish to prepare?” If you do, you are making a big mistake. This dish is simple to prepare and very economical. In years past, the farmer would make this meal with an old unproductive rooster. Today you can’t find a rooster in the supermarket, young, old or unproductive. Instead we might try substituting dark meat chicken.

Coq au vin is much more about technique than it is about a recipe. While endless variations are possible, this one happens to be very tasty indeed. Although as written, this is a two-day process, it is not imperative to refrigerate overnight if you really want to eat it the same day you make it. This coq au vin recipe goes with my second Squidoo lens called Coq au Vin. If you want to learn more about the history of this dish, see some a great video on how Chef Alton Brown prepares it, plus Julia Child’s version, I recommend you check out my Coq au Vin Squidoo. And please remember to give it 5 stars if you like it.

Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry everyone is

Ingredients

• 3 oz. thick-cut bacon, cut cross-wise into ½ inch pieces
• Butter or neutral oil, as needed
• 3 dark meat quarters, or thighs and legs to fit in one layer in the bottom of a Dutch Oven
• 1½ oz. all purpose flour
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 medium carrots cut in small dice
• 2 medium celery stalks, cut in small dice
• 1 medium-large onion cut in small dice
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried)
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 5 pepper corns
• 1 bottle dry red wine
• Chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium canned, as needed
• 8 oz. peeled pearl onions, whole
• 8 oz. button mushrooms, small ones cut in half, large ones cut in quarters

How to Make Coq au Vin at Home

1) In the bottom of a large Dutch oven, fry bacon pieces until crisp. Drain and reserve bacon. You should have 1 - 2 tablespoons bacon grease in the bottom of the pan. If not, add a little butter or neutral vegetable oil.

2) Depending on how much fat you like, you can remove the skin from the chicken pieces. Sear chicken pieces on all sides until golden brown. Reserve.

3) Again, add butter or oil so you have 1 - 2 tablespoons fat in the pan. Sauté the peeled pearl onions with a little salt and pepper until golden brown. Reserve. Add more oil or butter to the pan, if necessary, and sauté the mushroom pieces with a pinch of salt and pepper until golden brown. Reserve.

4) Add the carrot, celery, onion, and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are beginning to soften and turn golden. Add the flour, and whisk and cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute or two. Deglaze the hot pan with a cup or so of wine.

5) Put the chicken back into the pan. Add the rest of the wine. Cover the pot and refrigerate overnight.

6) The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F, and add enough chicken stock to the pot to almost cover the chicken.

7) Tie the bay leaves, thyme, parsley, garlic cloves and peppercorns together in a square of cheesecloth and add to the pot. Submerge the bouquet garni in the cooking liquid.

Cover the pot tightly and let braise in the oven until the chicken is very tender, about 3 hours.

9) At the end of the cooking time, remove the chicken and the bouquet garni from the pot. Reserve the chicken and keep warm. Throw the bouquet garni away. Do not get the two confused and throw away the chicken.

10) With an immersion blender, blend the sauce until smooth, and then reduce on the stove top by about ¼ or until a nice saucy consistency. Taste the sauce and add more salt and/or pepper, if needed. Add back the reserved onions and mushrooms and heat through. Add the chicken back to the pan and stir everything together.

11) Spread the bacon pieces on a baking sheet and heat them up in the oven.

You can serve this dish alone, with crusty bread or even over buttered egg noodles.

Garnish each serving with some of the hot, crispy bacon pieces.