Baked Chicken and Orzo →

Here’s a one pot Mediterranean inspired baked chicken and orzo recipe that is sure to be a hit with your family or dinner guests. Reminiscent of Spanish paella, this recipe replaces rice with tender flavorful orzo. Although the ingredients list is a bit lengthy, the actual preparation of the dish comes together quickly, and you and your family or guests will be richly rewarded. Serve accompanied by a green salad dressed with a light vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Baked Chicken and Orzo
Serves 4 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 skin-on chicken breasts or thighs (skin-on preferred, but sub skinless if you prefer)

• 2 tablespoons of chopped pancetta

• 1 cup orzo

• 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups chicken broth

• ¼ cup white wine

• ½ medium onion chopped

• 3 tablespoons crushed tomatoes

• 2 cloves of minced garlic

• ¼ cup olive oil

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• large pinch of saffron

• ½ cup of green peas

• 1/3 cup Spanish olives with pimento sliced in half

• ½ sweet red pepper coarsely chopped

• parsley for garnish 

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 375 F

1. Pat the chicken thighs dry. Mix the thyme, salt and pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and coriander. Coat the chicken with the mixture, cover, and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

2. In a Dutch oven or other heavy bottom, oven-proof pan, brown the pancetta. Remove the pancetta and reserve. Pour off all but a tablespoon or two of the pancetta fat.

3. Remove the chicken from the marinade and wipe off excess marinade. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides. Remove and tent the browned chicken.

4. If the pan is too dry add two tablespoons of olive oil. Over medium heat, sauté the garlic, onions, and red pepper for a minute or two before adding the orzo. Stir until the orzo begins to brown and the onions are tender.

5. Add 1 ½ cups chicken stock, wine, tomatoes, and saffron, and bring to a boil. Nestle the chicken thighs into the orzo and sprinkle the sliced olives around the chicken. Sprinkle the reserved pancetta over the chicken and place the pan in the preheated oven. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the orzo is tender and the internal temperature of the thighs reaches 165 F. If the orzo is too al dente, add the remaining ¼ cup of chicken stock. Stir in the green peas for the last 10-15 minutes in the oven. (Waiting to add the peas at the end will ensure that you have bright green peas, not over-cooked gray peas.)

6. Serve garnished with chopped parsley. 

   Wine pairing: Medium-bodied white wines like Albariño, lightly oaked Burgundy, Vernaccia, Soave, Viognier, or dry Riesling will complement the complex, subtle flavors of this dish; for those who don’t drink white wine, a Rosé or a light Pinot Noir or Beaujolais would be a good choice. For this dish, avoid wines with heavy tannins.

Chicken Fricassee with Wild Mushrooms →

In culinary terminology, a “fricassee” is a dish of pan-fried meat or pieces of poultry served with a pan sauce comprised of aromatics and often mushrooms. This comforting dish comes together quickly and is easy enough to make mid-week for the family, yet elegant enough to serve company. The combination of wild mushrooms, tomatoes, white wine, both beef and chicken stock, heavy cream, and herbs of your choice, produces a deliciously rich sauce full of umami that is sure to please your family or guests. I hope you enjoy it.

Chicken Fricassee with Wild Mushrooms
Serves 4
Ingredients:

• ¼ cup butter

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (EVOO)

• 4 boneless chicken thighs

• 6 ounces of wild mushrooms chopped (shiitake, maitake, cremini, chanterelle, oyster, etc.)

• 1 large shallot chopped

• 1-2 teaspoons of herbs de Provence (equal measures of summer savory, dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, and fennel seed.)

• garlic powder

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 1 cup chicken stock

• 1 cup beef stock

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• 1 cup of peeled, diced tomatoes

• salt and pepper

• chopped fresh parsley for garnish 

Preparation:

1. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper, garlic powder, and herbs de Provence.

2. In a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon of EVOO and brown the chicken on both sides. Remove the chicken to a platter and tent.

3. Add the chopped shallot and mushrooms and sauté over medium heat until the mushrooms have released their water and just begin to brown. If the skillet starts to burn, add a small amount of liquid to allow the mushrooms to finish cooking. Remove the sauteed mixture to a bowl and reserve.

4. Add the wine, tomatoes, and both stocks to the pan, bring to a boil, and reduce to about ¾ cup.

5. Add the heavy cream and stir to mix; add the mushrooms and mix; add the chicken and simmer (don’t boil) for a few minutes until thoroughly heated through. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to your taste. Serve garnished with chopped fresh parsley. 

Wine pairing: white wines with body and good acid to balance the richness of the sauce; un-oaked Chardonnay, Chablis, Soave, Vernaccia, Albariño, or Viognier. A chilled Rosé might also be a nice choice.

Adapted from a recipe from Bon Appétit special edition on recipes of Spain, May 1992

Pollo Scarpariello (Shoemaker's Chicken) →

Food is so connected to our deepest memories. When I read chef Mario DiBiase’s Instagram post for Chicken Scarpariello (Shoemakers Chicken), I was instantly transported to my grandmother’s kitchen when I was a kid. I didn’t know the name of the dish, she learned the recipe from her southern Italian neighbors, and she just called it “Chicken, Sausage, and Peppers”, but I still remember the fragrance of the dish! Chef Mario’s recipe is a bit more complicated with more heat than some of the simpler ‘scarpariello recipes I researched, but the extra ingredients are well worth it and add to the rich, tangy, spicy complexity of the sauce. Whatever you choose to call it, this fragrant, colorful, and delicious piquant Italian chicken dish is a great recipe to add to your kitchen repertoire. You can adjust the heat by increasing or decreasing the hot vs. sweet peppers. The recipe does require vinegar from pickled peppers. Serve with roasted potatoes or atop a wide fresh noodle like Pappardelle with sautéed Romano beans on the side to make it a true feast! Don’t forget the crusty bread to sop up the truly wonderful sauce. Buon appetito!

Pollo Scarpariello (Shoe Maker’s Chicken)
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 bone-in thighs with skin (or 6-8 wings separated at the joint, wingtip removed)

• Salt and pepper

• 3 links sweet Italian sausage

• olive oil

• 6 cloves garlic-crushed

• 2 large onions-large dice

• 6 pickled hot cherry peppers cored and quartered (optional sub pepperoncini if you can’t find hot-cherry peppers)

• 12 pickled sweet cherry peppers +1/4c vinegar from jar cored and quartered (sub any mild pickled pepper like Peppadew)

• 1 red bell pepper-cored and large dice (for more color use a combination of small red, yellow, and orange sweet peppers- 2 each)

• 1 green Poblano pepper-cored and large dice (optional sub an Anaheim or the milder Cubanelle/Italian frying pepper)

• ½ cup small marinated artichoke hearts

• 1 teaspoon dry oregano (sub a sprig of rosemary when you place the pan in the oven)

• 2 cups wine

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 F

1. Season the thighs with salt and pepper.
2. In a heavy oven-proof pan, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and garlic until just beginning to brown. Remove the garlic and set aside.
3. Add the chicken and sausage to the pan. Brown well on all sides. Remove and set aside. Slice the sausage into ½ inch coins. Tent the chicken and sausage.
4. Add the onions, fresh peppers, and garlic to the pan. Sauté until tender and browning.
5. Add white wine to the pan. Deglaze, scraping up the fond as wine reduces to about 2/3.
6. Add the vinegared peppers along with the juice and the artichoke hearts. Season with oregano (or rosemary) and adjust the salt. Add chicken and sausage, fold into vegetables to coat.
7. Place the pan in the center of the oven. Let roast, turning pieces as they brown. Cook until chicken reaches 160 F in the thickest pieces.
8. Plate and top with chopped fresh oregano.

Wine pairing: a fruit-forward white wine like a Dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer would work with the spiciness of the dish. Pinot Grigio or Viognier are also good choices. For red wine try Pinot Noir, Nero d’avola, or Zinfandel. William Seibert from Shelburne Falls Cork recommends an Andre Blanck Grand Cru Riesling Schlossberg Vineyard.

Adapted from a recipe by #mario.cooks
Chef Mario DiBiase, SottoVoce Restaurant, Brooklyn, NY

Ischia-style Rabbit →

Ischia is an island off of Naples, Italy. With an abundance of wild rabbits, the island is famous for its rabbit dishes. This recipe is adapted from chef Andrea Migliaccio’s recipe for Ischia-style Rabbit. It would also work well substituting chicken legs and thighs for the rabbit. This is an easy delicious recipe that epitomizes the magic created when you combine simple ingredients like fresh herbs, shallots, garlic, broth, and white wine. Buon Appetito!

Ischia-style Rabbit
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 2 rabbits cut into pieces (or one chicken leg and thigh per person)

• 1 bulb of garlic, cut in half

• 1 ¾ cup of shallots, sliced

• 1 chili, cut in half length-ways (I used ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes)

• 2 cups + 3 tablespoons of white wine

• 2 cups + 3 tablespoons of chicken or vegetable stock

• 1 cup of tomatoes (about 3-4 plumb tomatoes quartered)

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

• 1 bunch of basil, roughly chopped (reserve a few leaves whole for garnish)

• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
1. Using a cleaver or heavy butcher knife, cut the rabbits into pieces: the shoulders, ribs, loins, and hind legs. Discard the liver, heart, and other organs or save them for another use. Season all of the pieces with salt and pepper and dust lightly with a little flour.

2. Working in batches, sauté the rabbit pieces with a little olive oil in a skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat, adding more oil as necessary until all the pieces are golden brown. When all the pieces are browned, tent and set the rabbit to one side and discard the oil from the pan.

3. Add another tablespoon of olive oil and add the garlic, shallots, and chili (red pepper flakes). Cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes over medium-high heat until the shallots are golden. Don’t burn the pan.

4. Deglaze the pan with the white wine scraping up the browned pieces in the pan. After about 2-3 minutes, add the tomatoes and the chicken/vegetable stock. Bring to a boil over medium to high heat.

5. Add the chopped parsley and basil and continue to cook over med-high heat for 10 minutes.

6. Add the reserved pieces of rabbit in a single layer to a roasting pan, pour the sauce over the rabbit, and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes. The sauce will thicken and the rabbit will turn golden brown.

7. Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste and serve garnished with fresh basil leaves.

Note: this dish pairs well with buttered potatoes and parsley and green beans sauteed with garlic, red pepper flakes, and lemon zest.

Wine pairing: full-bodied white wines like Verdicchio or Tiberio Pecorino; White Burgundy, or White Rhone wines; a dry Riesling would also work; lighter red wines like Beaujolais or Dolcetto di Alba are also a good match.

Adapted from: https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/rabbit-ischia-style-recipe
Andrea Migliaccio