Chicken Cacciatore Story

My first adventure with preparing chicken cacciatore was with a recipe on a package of Golden Grain rotelle. That was years ago and it was decent tasting. But I have evolved. The other day I got an irresistible urge to make something cacciatore-ish, so I looked up a recipe on the La Cucina Italiana site. There wasn’t enough liquid to suit me so I sort of did whatever I wanted, as I am inclined to do. I wanted plenty of sauce for pasta, or polenta, or whatever. Of course authentic cacciatore is made with rabbit, and as I didn’t want to chase down a cottontail I went with chicken thighs.

6 chicken thighs, skinned, salted and peppered
1 tbs oil
½ cup dry red wine
1 cup chopped onions
1 diced carrot
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbs flour
pinch red pepper flakes
1 or more cups low sodium chicken broth
8 oz pasta of your choice boiled in salted water

Brown thighs in oil, remove from pan. Pour off most of fat. Cook onions and carrots until tender, no problem if there is caramelization. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant. Stir in flour and cook for a minute or two. Add wine and cook down a bit (I actually poured in a big glug without measuring). Put chicken back in the pan with all accumulated juices and add chicken broth as needed to partially cover and make plenty of sauce. Bring to a boil and then cover tightly. You can finish cooking as per your preference, on top of the stove on low or in the oven at 350° for about 45 minutes or until tender. I like the meet falling off the bone. In the last 15 minutes of cooking add fresh herbs like oregano or rosemary. Not too much, just a couple of sprigs.

Serve with freshly cooked pasta. You can goose up the flavor with porcini powder cooked in the sauce if you have it. Or add some diced and cooked pancetta.How about some sliced mushrooms? Go wild. Pretend you’re a mighty hunter; after all, cacciatore is a hunter’s dish.

Let Us Braise

I absolutely love to braise tough cuts of meat. The connective tissue and collagen melt over low heat and turn into tender deliciousness. And I absolutely love pork shoulder; it is essential for carnitas, pulled pork, and here, braised in marsala wine. I originally found the recipe in La Cucina Italiana, a wonderful magazine which has made buying Italian cookbooks unnecessary. The recipe originally called for a pork loin roast, which I don’t like because it’s a thick, dry cut of meat. I’ve had pork loin roast which ranged from awful to just edible so I wasn’t going to go there.

You can cook the meat in one piece or cut it up into one inch chunks, as I did for a recent cooking class I taught. Regarding the chestnuts you can go one of three ways: leave them out, buy canned ones and use those, or boil and peel them as I describe below. I am going to try the canned ones next time.

This dish is delicious. I haven’t heard a single discouraging word when it is served - only happy sounds.

Marsala Braised Pork Shoulder

Serves 6

½ pound chestnuts
2 ½ pound boneless pork shoulder
Fine sea salt
2 ounces diced pancetta
4 bay leaves
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups dry Marsala wine
1 3/4 cups whole milk
1 ¼ cup beef broth
freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 325° with rack in middle of oven.

Bring a saucepan to a boil, add chestnuts. Boil 5 minutes, drain. Peel and set aside.

Season pork all over with ¼ teaspoon salt. Place ¼ cup flour on a baking sheet; roll pork in flour to coat.

Heat oil in a 5 to 7 quart Dutchen oven or wide heavy pot with lid over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Brown pork on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes total. Remove pork. Add pancetta and lightly brown.

In a large saucepan, whisk together remaining ¼ cup flour and wine over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, whisking often, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Add milk, broth, ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Gently simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer sauce to pan with pork. Add chestnuts and bay leaves. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and lid. Roast, turning pork two separate times, replacing foil and lid, until meat is tender.

Remove pan from oven and let meat rest in pan 15 minutes before serving.

Minne Marm Me

I’ve been dithering about making orange marmalade for some time now. I made a lemon ginger marmalade a few years ago, which was delicious but a nightmare of endlessly emerging seeds. But now I have made the plunge, using the Minneola tangerines from my backyard tree. That tree has been a real trooper over the years, providing plenty of fruit for donating to our neighbors by the bag full. Now the fruit has peaked in flavor and juiciness and I figured I had better get cracking before it’s late.

The recipe below is from the Food TV site and is by Alton Brown. It worked great except for a little something – my mandoline isn’t sharp enough to slice citrus without mangling them, so I had to switch to my 8” chef knife. Even after simmering the minneolas for 40 minutes, effectively tenderizing them, cooking them in sugar seemed to toughen the strips back up. The flavor was great but Paul was picking the strips out of his marmalade.

It occurred to me during the process that I may wish I had pulsed them in the food processor, and lo, my foodie next door neighbor told me about the marmalade he had that was made in Sweden or some other Arctic country. It was finely chopped and he swore it was the best orange marmalade evah. Feeling emboldened, I got out my food processor and turned out another batch. The result  addictively good, sweet, citrusy, with a mild bitterness that marmalade is known for, and yet a little chewy, which is normal. If you can’t get minneolas, wait until the thin skinned Valencias are in season. There is too much rind on the navel orange, which is for eating anyway. Sometime when I can get my hands on blood oranges for a reasonable price I will give them a whirl.

Minne Marm
yields 8-9 cups

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 pounds oranges, minneolas or other thin-skinned citrus, 4 to 5 medium
• 1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced
• 6 cups water
• 3 pounds plus 12 ounces sugar
• Special Equipment: 8-9 (8-ounce) canning jars with rings and lids, funnel, tongs, ladle, and 12-quart pot

Directions

Wash the oranges and lemon thoroughly. Cut the oranges into 1/8-inch slices using a mandoline, removing the seeds as you go. Stack the orange slices and cut them into quarters. (Alternatively, use your food processor to finally chop the goods. Don’t turn into a paste.) Place the oranges into an 8-quart stainless steel pot. Add the lemon zest and juice and the water to the pot, set over high heat and bring to a boil, approximately 10 minutes. Once boiling, reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

While the fruit is cooking, fill a large pot (at least 12-quart) 3/4 full with water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Place the (8-ounce) jars and rings, canning funnel, ladle, and tongs into the boiling water and make sure the water covers the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the lids and leave everything in the pot until the marmalade is ready.

Meanwhile, place a small plate in the freezer. Increase the heat under the orange mixture to return to full boil. Add the sugar and stir the mixture continually, until it reaches 222 to 223 degrees F on a deep-fry or candy thermometer, and darkens in color, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat in order to prevent boil over. Test the readiness of the marmalade by placing a teaspoon of the mixture onto the chilled plate and allowing it to sit for 30 seconds. Tilt the plate. The mixture should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If mixture is thin and runs easily, it is not ready.

Remove jars from the water and drain on a clean towel. Place a canning funnel onto the top of 1 of the jars and ladle in the marmalade just to below the bottom of the threads of the jar. Repeat until all of the mixture has been used. The amount of marmalade may vary by 1 to 2 jars. Wipe the rims and threads of the jars with a moist paper towel and top each with a lid. Place a ring on each jar and tighten.

Return the jars to the pot with boiling water, being certain that they don't touch the bottom of the pot or each other. (If you don't have a jar rack, try a round cake rack, or metal mesh basket. Even a folded kitchen towel on the pot bottom will do in a pinch.) Add additional water if necessary to cover the jars by at least an inch. Boil for 10 minutes. Using canning tongs, carefully remove the jars from the water, place in a cool dry place and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 24 hours before opening. Once open, store in the refrigerator. Unopened marmalade will last for up to 6 months.