Pollo alla Vesuviana

POLLO ALLA VESUVIANA

Chicken Vesuvio

As I flipped through The Italian Cookbook looking for new recipes to try, the name of this dish caught my eye. Apparently, while this chicken dish doesn’t have spices or hot sauce (which I would normally associate with volcanoes), the final structure in the serving dish is supposed to look like a volcano… That intention is debatable, but still, this was pretty delicious.

Pollo alla Vesuviana/Chicken Vesuvio

1 Frying chicken, 2-3lbs

½ C Flour

Salt

Pepper

MSG

Oregano (I added this ingredient to make it feel more Italian)

2 Eggs, well beaten

¼ C Milk

1 tbsp Parsley, chopped

½ C grated Parmesan

1 Clove garlic, sliced

2 tbsp Marsala wine

½ tsp Parsley, chopped

In my local grocery store, I could find parts of chickens already broken down, or whole chickens weighing 4lbs or more (society has caused chickens to be bred much larger than they were in the 50s!). Trying to stick to the 2-3lbs, I instead bought 2 Rock Cornish Hens – in retrospect, buying some legs and wings already separated from the original bird is a lot faster and easier than breaking down a chicken (or 2 smaller birds).

                                                In my head I named them "Tom & Jerry"

Disjoint chicken and cut into serving-sized pieces. Rinse and pat dry. Coat chicken in a mixture of flour and spices. Combine eggs, milk, and parsley. Dip each piece of chicken into egg mixture, then roll in Parmesan. The base recipe used here is what the book calls Fried Chicken, Italian Style, and this can be found on the same page as the Vesuvio recipe.

Heat olive oil in skillet. Starting with bone-in pieces of chicken, place them skin-side down in the skillet. Add non-boned pieces as the others brown. Brown all sides, then place chicken one layer deep in baking dish and set aside.

Heat olive oil and garlic in a saucepan until lightly browned. Stir in wine and parsley and heat through. Pour mixture over chicken in baking dish. While this gave it an interesting flavor, pouring a red wine sauce over fried chicken completely soaked the breading and made it gooey, plus it was this strange purple-grey color at the end, which was slightly unappetizing. I would recommend creating this sauce after the chicken has finished baking, allow it to thicken, and use it as a sauce rather than as baking liquid.

Bake at 325^oF about 45 minutes, turning once, or until thickest pieces of chicken are tender when pierced with a fork. Meanwhile, prepare Deep-Fried Potatoes and place in the oven to keep warm. To serve, place potatoes around rim of baking dish to form “volcano.”

I don’t know if my chicken looks like it’s erupting out of a volcano, but it was pretty tasty. That  being said, there are still lots of things we decided we would change about this, first being the sauce issue I mentioned above. My husband also wished that this were spicier. I think we could achieve this by baking some peppers along with the chicken, or adding some red pepper flakes or other spices to the breading. I keep forgetting how cooks in the 50s were so unfamiliar with many of the spices that we all have in our pantries today.

Have a question or a request? Put it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to respond. Fröhe essen!