Italian Cooking Forum

Two recipes for chicken cacciatore from the archives of Italian Cooking & Living. The first recipe is from Tuscany and the second is from Sicily.

I hope you will enjoy the recipes,
Paolo Villoresi

Chicken Cacciatore
(Tuscany)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 chicken, about 4 pounds, cut into pieces
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped sage
3⁄4 cup dry white wine
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1⁄2 cup black olives, pitted

In a large skillet with high sides, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and add to the skillet. Sauté until the chicken is well-browned on all sides. Remove the chicken from the skillet, and set aside on a plate. Lower the heat to medium, and add the garlic. Sauté until it begins to turn light golden. Discard the garlic, and add the onion, rosemary and sage. Sauté until the onion turns translucent. Add the wine, tomatoes and olives. Return the chicken to the skillet, and add water if necessary to cover the chicken. Cover with a lid, turn the heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and serve. Serves 4

Chicken Cacciatore
(Sicily)
1 chicken, about 31⁄2 pounds
1⁄2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 ounces pancetta, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
3⁄4 cup dry white wine
12 ounces canned, crushed tomatoes
finely chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 large green peppers, cut into thin strips

Clean the chicken, and cut it into pieces. In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, add 1⁄4 cup olive oil, the pancetta and the garlic. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, then add the chicken pieces, and stir. When the meat is browned on all sides, deglaze with the wine, and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine has evaporated, add the tomatoes. Cover, and simmer over low heat until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Season with parsley, salt and freshly ground pepper. In a separate skillet over medium-high heat, fry the peppers in 1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. When soft, remove from oil with a slotted spoon, salt lightly, and add to the chicken. Serves 6

Many people have asked for this recipe

For the lamb:
1 lamb crown roast,
about 4 pounds
extra-virgin olive oil for brushing
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves

For the potatoes:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil,
plus extra 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1⁄4 pound pancetta, sliced
1 cup Aglianico del Vulture,
or substitute a dry red wine
1 stalk celery, chopped
14 small potatoes, cut in half
2 bay leaves, plus extra for garnish
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 450°. Brush the roast with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, garlic and the bay leaves. Arrange the crown roast in a roasting pan. Place a ball of aluminum foil in the center of the roast and cover the tips of the bones with aluminum foil to keep them from burning. Transfer the roast to the oven to cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the lamb reads 145°. Baste with the cooking juices every 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes: In a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and pancetta and sauté for 2 minutes. Remove the garlic when it starts to turn golden. Deglaze with the Aglianico. Add the celery, potatoes, bay leaves, salt and freshly ground pepper and cook until the potatoes are tender. Set aside and keep warm.
Transfer the lamb and potatoes to a platter and top with the pan juices. Remove the cooked bay leaves, garnish with fresh bay leaves and serve. Serves 8

Paolo Villoresi is a gourmet and a passionate researcher of the Italian cuisine and culture. Villoresi is the founder and the President of the Italian Culinary Insitute; Publisher and Editor in Chief of Italian Cooking & Living, cibo, and menu.

Italian Cooking Forum is the new blog dedicated to his cultural and culinary projects: books, videos, presentation, and lectures. Paolo speaks at colleges as well as Italian Cultural Institutions, Clubs and Schools: he is a good “story-teller”.
The topics of his lectures are those of his publications; they are also on the culture and cuisine of the Etruscans, Ancient Rome, Middle Ages and Renaissance, Olive Oil, the Italian and the Regional Cuisines. His last lectures are “Food as Culture”, “From Tuscany To America” and “Pinocchio, His Author And The Birth Of La Cucina Italiana”.

Italian Cooking & Living is the voice of the Institute, the media to convey love and knowledge for Italian wines, products, and traditions.

Cibo is the e-magazine addressed to the very busy readers, who love cooking but have little time. Cibo follows them at home, in the office, and even on their mobile.
Menu is the newspaper of the Italian Culinary Center distributed through New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
www.italiancookingandliving.com is the electronic support of the Institute with more than 7000 informational pages, recipes and articles surfed 600.000 times each month and visited by more than 170.000 monthly visitors.

The first prestigious Italian magazine in U.S. and Canada: The Magazine of La Cucina Italiana, was launched in 1996 by Paolo Villoresi, who was its editor in chief for 12 years.

Paolo Villoresi has published Olice, a history of olive oil for kids sponsored by Unicef, Signature Pasta, Cooking with Olive Oil and My Holiday Table, compilations of modern and classical recipes, Whole Wheat My Love, the only book of recipes for Whole Wheat pasta.

Paolo’s Notebooks are rich of beautiful pictures, information and recipes: Olive Oil My Love, 6000 years of civilization; My Beloved Recipes, a compilation of recipes and the touching letters of his readers; Pasta My Love, history, health and practical tips, as well as information, about pasta and sauces of the many regions of Italy; Herbs My Love, tradition, legends, healthy tips for cooking with herbs; My Tuscany, the first volume of memories and recipes published on his magazines with the same title.

Paolo Villoresi is the founder of the Italian Culinary Center, the only one in North America, with its 5 Clubs: Italian Table, La Compagnia di Bacco, the Wine Club, the Olive Oil Club, the Cheese Club.

Paolo lectured at Italian Centers and Institutions, at many American Colleges and Universities like St.John’s, Hofstra, the University of Texas, Johns Hopkins, the Culinary Institute of America in Saint Helena, Davis University in California and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

Villoresi was born in Florence, Italy where he studied political science. He comes from an old Florentine family of art-lovers who taught him to look upon the traditions of Italian cuisine as an integral part of Italian culture. He is member of Accademia Italiana della Cucina and of Società Dante Alighieri. He is father of four and has been living in New York for 30 years, with his wife and 14 years old daughter.

Italian Cooking Forum is the media I chose to chat with all the enthusiasts of Italian culture about wine, cooking, and tradition.

In particular, all the subscribers of Italian Cooking & Living, Cibo, the members of the Clubs, ICC Club and Italian Culinary Institute will be able to participate in it by sending us videos of their dinners, barbecues, and whatever they think could be entertaining in terms of Italian food and culture.

Italian Cooking Forum is open to anybody, anywhere in the world through the website of Italian Cooking & Living: www.italiancookingandliving.com

Italian Cooking Forum aims to be a casual way to talk freely with you about Italian cuisine and culture; about recipes and ingredients, and about what’s behind them, including their stories and traditions. I’d like to listen also – and to make you listen too – people’s ideas, their wishes, also to their objections about what we do. I’ll limit myself to answer the questions and to update you on my culinary and cultural activities: news, lectures, and videos.

I am sure we will be very happy if readers, sympathizers and curious people from all over the world would join us at our “table”.

Conviviality is one of the major features of Italian culture and cuisine, therefore…welcome to all of you!

Paolo Villoresi