Chicken Spezzatino Bolognese

These are actually two separate things. First there is the Chicken Spezzatino, which is a chicken stew. Then there is the Bolognese sauce, which is really Ragὺ alla Bolognese. The Chicken Spezzatino would stand on its own, or you could just add a little plain tomato sauce if you didn't want to go through the trouble of making the ragὺ. You can make the Bolognese sauce on an earlier day, but since these recipes share so many ingredients, I prepared the stew as the ragὺ was finishing. Because of this, you'll see some overlap in the pictures, but I'll try to keep the recipes straight.

WARNING: This is a deeply flavored dish. If you don't like Chicken Livers, don't add them. Bolognese Sauce can live with or without them. I used Chicken stock for both parts of the meal because I employed the giblets, back and wing-tips of the Chicken I utilized for the stew. If you use boxed stock, you might prefer beef stock for the Bolognese Sauce.

I can't say I made the meal to fit the wine this time, but when I was wandering in my cellar trying to choose the perfect wine for this ultra-rich stew, I came upon some bottles of the 2005 Shardana. I've been waiting to crack a bottle for quite some time. This is an intense Sardinian red, just coming into its own and will mature nicely over the next several years. I'll have to sample it every couple of years to see how it develops, if I'm given the honor of lasting that long (me, not the wine). This wine comes from the Southern tip of Sardegna (see map) and is made of 85% Carignan and 15% Syrah. The Carignan is an old indigenous grape and some of the vines are actually pre-phylloxera. The name Shardana is, in fact, what the Phoenicians called Sardegna.

Ingredients:

Ragὺ alla Bolognese

3 oz. diced Pancetta

1 stick Celery, small dice

1 Onion (2 oz.), small dice

1 Carrot, small dice

Many of the ingredients for both

4 Mushrooms. minced

1 clove Garlic, small dice

2 # Tomatoes (fresh & ripe or canned)

3 Tbs Tomato Paste

1 # ground Beef

4 oz. Chicken Livers

½ cup white wine

2 Tbs Flour

1 cup hot Chicken stock

½ tsp Thyme

Salt

Sugar*  - see method

Chicken Spezzatino Bolognese

1 medium (4-6 lbs) Chicken

dredging flour

1 oz. Pancetta in small strips

1 stick Celery in ½" chunks

1 Carrot in ½" chunks

5 Mushrooms, ¼" slices

1 medium-hot Pepper

1 small Fennel (Anise) bulb

¼ cup black oil-cured Olives, diced

12 small Onions, whole or

    1 sweet Onion chopped into big pieces

4 oz. pimentos

½ tsp Thyme

½ tsp Savory

1 Bay Leaf

½ cup white wine

1 cup hot Chicken stock

1 cup Ragὺ alla Bolognese

Method:

Here you'll have to be a little flexible if you don't do everything the same day. I'm going to describe how I put everything together.

1.         Cut the Chicken into eight serving pieces. I divided it into leg/thighs, wings (minus tips), and breasts (boneless and cut in half crosswise).

2.         For the stock, place the back, wing-tips and giblets in a pan and add some chopped onion, carrots and celery with ½ tsp Thyme and a Bay leaf. Add water to cover, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for a couple of hours. Strain and keep hot while you make everything else.

Preparing stock

Stock cooking, deskinning tomatoes

3.         Prep all the veggies, noting different sizes for sauce vs. stew. I had some fresh little onions, just harvested, so I used those. Use what you have. Put tomatoes in boiling water for a couple of minutes, remove skins, cut crosswise and squeeze out as much juice and seeds as possible. Chop the tomatoes very small. If you are using canned tomatoes, remove from liquid and chop small. Add liquid to stock or use it to keep dishes moist as they cook. Remove tough outer part of Fennel bulb and cut into several big chunks. My mushrooms were various sizes, so I minced the big ones for the sauce and quartered the small ones for the stew. Slice the hot pepper into narrow rings.

Prepped for the Spezzatino

Prepping for both

4.         Make the Ragὺ. Gently sauté minced onion, carrots and celery for about 2 minutes. Add the minced mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes. Add the diced pancetta and cook for another couple of minutes. 

adding pancetta

            Raise the heat and add the ground Beef and cook until it is browned. Then add the minced Garlic and stir in. Now add the wine and let this get fully absorbed into the meat, about 5 minutes. 

wine just added

            Stir in the Chicken Livers (if you are using them) and cook for about 3 more minutes. Add tomatoes, wait until they bubble. 

tomatoes added

            Then sprinkle one teaspoon salt over tomatoes, lower heat and let simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until tomatoes break down. After 20 minutes, taste (it will still be a bit uncivilized in flavor but you're just checking for salt). Add salt, if necessary, and if you used fresh tomatoes you will almost certainly have to add about 1 Tbs of Sugar*. 

tomatoes breaking down

            Now stir in Tomato Paste. Sprinkle 2 Tbs Flour over the sauce and stir in. Cook for a few minutes. Stir in the Thyme. Blend in one cup of the hot Chicken stock, and let simmer, partially covered, for at least 2 hours. 

ready to simmer

            Check about every half-hour and add a bit more stock if the sauce gets too thick.

5.         Make the Spezzatino. You can start this when the sauce is half done. Blot the Chicken pieces dry and dredge in Flour. Heat oil in a Fricassee pan, or other large pan with sides. Add Pancetta strips and sauté for about 5 minutes. 

            Then add chicken pieces and brown well on both sides. 

browning chicken

            Add the wine and cook until in almost all evaporates. 

adding wine

            Then add a cup of the hot Chicken stock. When everything starts to come together, add carrots, celery and mushrooms. 

            Cover and let cook for 5 minutes. Now add hot peppers, fennel, small onions and olives. Add seasonings, lower heat and simmer, covered for about an hour, adding a little more stock, if necessary. 

ready to simmer

ragu added

            After the hour, carefully turn over each piece of chicken, sprinkle on 4 oz. of Pimentos, then spread a little Ragu on each piece of Chicken, cover and let cook for another half-hour.

Spezzatino finished

6.         Final assembly. You can use rice, polenta or couscous to accompany the Spezzatino, as they all work well with Bolognese sauce. I chose to throw a handful of fresh spinach ravioli, I happened to have in the refrigerator, into the still simmering stock. After about 5 minutes they were ready to strain out and add to the plate with a few pieces of chicken. Then I spread some sauce around everything and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano over the Spezzatino. For a salad, I used one leaf of fresh local lettuce covered with slices of a fresh peach just bought at our farmer's market. I added a few pieces of Ricotta Salata and drizzled over a little homemade poppyseed dressing.

6.        

7.         Here is the meal, along with some good bread and, of course, that Shardana, which was everything I had imagined it would be: rich and flavor-explosive but also soft and absent any cloying after-taste that I detest in a red wine.

Enjoy!

Deviled Crab on Toast al Fresco

            Summer is finally here on the Niagara Frontier. While this season is not as long as in other parts of our great country, it is deliciously well-balanced. Rarely do we ever creep into the 90's, with the mid-80's our usual fare. Those lovely Great Lakes, who produce the occasional snowy bonanza in Winter, act as a grand moderating influence in the Summer, beating back the hot waves that occasionally nip at our heels from the Southwest. And then, every so often, our dear friends in Canada send us a waft of air-conditioning that invigorates and allows us to bear the occasional, anti-human, 90 degree spell that might get by the defenses of Lake Erie!

            Summer is a time for cooking and eating outdoors. It is also the time to enjoy chilled Prosecco. With its (relatively) low alcohol content, it can be a welcome accompaniment to lunch on your deck. I always have a dozen-or-so splits cold in my refrigerator. It is also a fine friend to enjoy while reading outdoors in the afternoon. With but the occasional bee or butterfly buzzing by, we have few outdoor pests to bother us (another happy side effect of those short stretches of wintertime sub-zero temps, I think).

            Grilled steaks, the ubiquitous hotdogs and hamburgers, smoked pork, turkey and brisket, grilled "Buffalo Wings" instead of frying and rotisseried legs of lamb for souvlaki; you get used to cooking everything outdoors! So, when you are in the mood for a stylish luncheon, you find a way to use your grill. This dish can be made completely indoors, of course, but I've chosen to use my grill and enjoy it al Fresco!

            Any kind of crab will do, I suppose, but I found some good looking Alaskan King Crab Legs that will guarantee me large chunks of crabmeat... mmmm! My favorite. So what we're going to do is create a piquant white sauce and add the crab to it, just enough to heat it through. Then we'll pour this onto toast made from thick slices of homemade wheat bread on a few lettuce leaves. That's it!! Since I want to do everything outdoors on my deck, I'll be sure to prep all the ingredients with the aim of easy outdoor usage.

Most of the ingredients

 Ingredients

            Crab    Enough to produce about 2 cups of meat

            2 Scallions chopped thin, up to the green stalk

            2 Tbs. Fresh Chives, chopped fine

            ¼ Lemon (to squeeze over crabmeat)

            Celery: a small piece, diced fine

            1 Hard Cooked Egg Yolk, chopped fine

            1 Tbs. Dijon Mustard

            1 tsp. Capers

            1 tsp. Sea Salt

            Red Hot Ground Pepper, any kind: as much as you can take

            1 ¼ cups Half & Half (see note)

            Large Dollop of Sour Cream

            2 Tbs. Butter

            2 Tbs. Flour

            Paprika (for garnish)

            2 Lettuce leaves

            2 thick slices of Dense Bread

            Good EV Olive Oil

            1 medium grill proof sauce pan

* note on Half & Half. You could use almost any liquid here, from skim milk to heavy cream, probably even some white wine. It is the flour/butter Roux that creates the cream sauce, not the liquid used. I used Half & Half because it adds a little richness, but not too much. The quantity used will depend on when your sauce thickens to your desired consistency. Mine took 1 ¼ cups.

Method

  

1    Carefully remove Crab from shell. Save large pieces and mince other crabmeat. Cut the large pieces into bite-size pieces (or as large as you want). Place Crab in a bowl. Squeeze Lemon over crabmeat. Mince Dill and sprinkle over Crab and refrigerate until ready for use.

Main Ingredients Prepped

Crab Ready for Refrigerator

2    Crisp up two pieces of Lettuce. Chill a plate and a champagne flute.

3    Dice Celery to very fine pieces. Chop Scallions to very thin slices. Place these in a bowl.

4    Measure out 2 Tbs. each of Butter and Flour and place, respectively, in small bowls.

5    Cut two fairly thick slices of a hearty Bread. Thinly baste each, on both sides, with just a small amount of EV Olive Oil.

6    Mince the Yolk of a hard cooked egg and add a teaspoon of Capers to them.

Bread Ready

Eggs & Capers Ready

7    After grill is preheated, set burners from high (in back) to low (in front), my grill has three burners. If you have a charcoal grill, pile the coals to the rear. Basically, you want to control the heat and be able to move your sauce pan to increase or decrease the heat under it. You also want an area where you can quickly toast your Bread.

8    Place two leaves of crisp Lettuce on a chilled plate. Now you can bring all your ingredients outside and begin!

9    Place a very small amount of Oil in the pan, over medium, and when heated properly, add the Scallion/Celery mix. Sauté until translucent, just a few minutes. Add Butter, then Flour and whisk constantly for about five minutes. Do not let the mixture color. Move the pan to a cooler area, if necessary.

Begin Scallions & Celery

Butter and Flour Cooking

10  When the roux has cooked a while, add about a cup of the Half & Half, whisking until it starts to bubble and thicken. Then continue to slowly add liquid until sauce has the consistency of a white gravy. Add Salt. Add hot Red Pepper. Stir in the Dijon Mustard. Stir in the Egg/Capers mixture, cook for a minute or two and then move pan to lowest heat. Now stir in the Crab/Chives mixture and a dollop of Sour Cream. 

Thickening Sauce

Everything Finally Added

      Place slices of Bread on the higher heat area of the grill  ̶̶  watch carefully!  ̶  turn bread when just toasted, and do the other side.

Toasting Bread, Keeping Sauce Hot

11  Place Toast slices on the Lettuce and pour Deviled Crab mixture over them. Sprinkle with Paprika and serve with highly chilled Prosecco. 

Toast on Lettuce

Deviled Crab on Toast

Enjoy your Luncheon al fresco!   ... Love, Dave

Farsumagru Saia

            This is another dish I tailored to accompany a fine wine. I found this pairing to be particularly beguiling. The Farsumagu is scrumptiously divine by itself, but is enhanced by the spectacular sauce designed to stand up to the intensity of SAIA Nero d'Avola!

            Nero d'Avola is a grape grown in Sicily which produces a dry red wine, sort of like Chianti on steroids, if you'll pardon the non-wine terminology. SAIA is produced by Antonio Moretti on the estate Feudo Maccari in the extreme Southeastern tip of Sicily. See the red blob on the map. The volcanic soil and cooler sea breezes produce an interesting grape which is hand-harvested and after a long maceration on the skins and fermentation, is aged for 15 months in Oak. The result is a deeply colored and voluptuous wine. This wine needs to be carefully decanted for at least a few hours, and will gain in nuance as the evening progresses (if it lasts that long!).

Saia Nero d'Avola

            Interestingly, one side of my Mother's family has the name: Saia, although they emigrated from Cefalú well over a century ago. I circled Cefalú on the map to show that it is nowhere near the estate of this wine. As I researched "Saia", I discovered that the name is an ancient Arab word for the viaducts built to hold water during the scorching summer months. I never knew that! Now to the dish:

            Farsumagru is simply a roulade of meat with a savory filling. There are many incarnations of it, since it is found all over Sicily. Often made with veal, I chose to use beef to achieve a deeper flavor. The stuffing is the key here. Traditionally we would expect a certain few ingredients and then additional support. The customary fill is hard cooked eggs, sausage and Caciocavallo cheese. I have enhanced that with ham, olive paste and a few minced mushrooms. The Farsumagru will braise in sautéed onion, ham, mushrooms, carrots, beef stock, tomato paste and our Saia Nero d'Avola wine, with a few sprigs of rosemary and parsley. After braising, we'll strain the liquid and add it to a roux of equal parts butter and flour. We will favor this gravy with a splash of Marsala and a tablespoon of butter. Then we will slice the roulade and place it on a bed of couscous and cover with the gravy.

            The photo of the ingredients shows round steak in the foreground and then from left to right: Mushrooms, Parsley, a Sausage patty (my homemade Italian Sausage), sprigs of Rosemary, hard cooked Egg ready for slicing, about ¼ pound of Ham, a Carrot, large Vidalia Onion, Tomato paste, Couscous and Pecorino cheese. To the right are ingredients for a simple salad: Radishes, Capocollo Ham, smoked Caciocavallo cheese, Lettuce and for the dressing, Lemon and the finest Olive Oil.

            A word about the cheese: Caciocavallo will be very difficult to find. In fact, the cheese store that sometimes carries it around here only had smoked caciocavallo the day I shopped for this dish. That's pretty good, but I didn't want the smoked flavor in the filling, so I replaced it with a Pecorino (sheep's) cheese. While caciocavallo is a Sicilian cow's cheese, it has a sharp pungency not unlike a pecorino cheese. I bought the smoked cheese anyway and used it in my salad!

            Special Note: I'm sure anybody can roll and tie a piece of meat better than I. My wife Sandy was always in charge of this, since I am so inept. I apologize ahead of time!

Ingredients:

       For the Farsumagu

            1 thin piece of Round Steak (braciole cut)... mine was less than 1/2 pound

           ¼ lb. Ham (ham steak has a better flavor, but deli ham would do in a pinch)

            1 Italian Sausage (if you use a link, remove from casing)

            ½ large Onion

            2 cups Beef Stock

            1 medium Carrot

            6 small Mushrooms

            1 hard cooked Egg

            1 raw Egg

            about ¼ cup Breadcrumbs

            Olive Paste

            ¼ lb. Caciocavallo (or a meltable pecorino) cheese

            1 Tbs Tomato Paste

            ¼ cup Red Wine

            1 Bay leaf

            3 sprigs each fresh Rosemary and Parsley

            ½ cup Couscous

            ¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

            Butter

           Splash Marsala wine (Porto or Sherry would work, but this is Sicily!)

            Salt, Pepper and Savory

Method:

1       Gently pound round steak to make an even oval shape and thickness.

Beginning the filling

2       Sauté ¼ onion (small dice) and 3 mushrooms (small dice) in regular extra-virgin olive oil. Meanwhile, mince half the ham and the sausage and place in a medium bowl. When the sauté is finished, add to the bowl. Season with a little salt, pepper and a pinch of Savory. After this cools a little, mix in a beaten egg and enough breadcrumbs to bring together.

Ready for rolling!

3     Lightly coat the beef with Olive Paste. Place sliced hard cooked eggs in a line on the Paste. Then spread the ham filling over this, and finally top with chopped cheese. Carefully roll and tie the meat.

4       Preheat oven to 350 F.  Warm a casserole with 1 Tbs each Butter and Olive Oil. Carefully brown the rolled meat on all sides. Get some good color on it. Meanwhile, chop ½ the carrot, remaining 3 mushrooms and remaining ham into larger dice. 

                                          

        When meat has browned, remove it and then add the chopped ingredients to casserole, browning them and scraping up all the browned bits into the mixture. (A splash of brandy can help here.)

        Now add the red wine and tomato paste and blend well. 

Red wine and Tomato Paste added

    Then add about 1¼ cups of the beef stock (you want to reserve about ¾ cup for the couscous). Place the beef roll on top of this sauce and add bay leaf and sprigs of rosemary and parsley. The casserole is now ready for the oven. 

Ready for Oven

       Cover and place in the 350 F oven for about 2 hours. After one hour, gently turn the roll onto its other side and add more liquid if it needed.

5       While the Farsumagru bakes, put the reserved stock into a small saucepan and add the remaining ½ carrot, chopped into very small dice. 

    

      Grate about ¼ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese and reserve. About 20 minutes before beef is done, bring stock and carrots to a gentle boil and cook, covered.

6     I had a salad and some garlic toast. This is the time to prepare salad ingredients and place in refrigerator to crisp up nicely. Squeeze about ¼ cup lemon juice and reserve for the dressing. For the toast, I mixed a small bowl of the finest Olive Oil and added some chopped garlic and a teaspoon of sea salt and mixed well. 

For Garlic Toast

         

     

        I cut my bread and placed it in the toaster, ready for toasting at the last minute.

7      When the meat is done, remove it to an ovenproof pan and cover meat with foil. Place it back into the turned-off oven to keep warm. 

         At this point add the couscous to the stock & carrots, turn off heat and cover.

8       Strain cooking liquid and reserve. Add about 1 Tbs each of soft butter and flour to the casserole over moderate heat and stir constantly, scraping up as much as you can. 

        After about 5 minutes, add the cooking liquid and mix well, making the gravy. After the gravy has come together, add a splash of Madera, if you wish, and a Tbs. of butter.

9       Turn on the toaster. Toss the salad with lemon juice and Olive oil and sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add most of the Romano to the couscous and mix well. When toast is done, brush on the garlicked olive oil and sprinkle the remaining Romano over this.

10     Slice the Farsumagru into ¾" thick slices.

11     Spread the Couscous over the entire plate. Place Farsumagru slices, overlapping, down the center and cover both with lots of that wonderful gravy. Enjoy!! (I know you will... these flavors are great!)

12     Enjoy with Saia Nero d'Avola. If you can't find it, I would recommend Borolo or a fine Barbera d'Asti rather than a different Nero d'Avola, because these would be closer to the explosion of flavor found in Saia.

- Love Dave