My husband is my guinea pig when I try out all sorts of gourmet Italian recipes for things I have never heard of before. One recent adventure which he enjoyed tremendously was my making of Polla al Mattone or Chicken under a Brick!
This moist, golden, flavorful Italian chicken dish was invented by the Etruscans in the Tuscany region of Italy a long time ago.It actually is quite a simple dish, as you are cooking the chicken whole and you don't need to fuss with it while it is cooking.
Pan Fried Chicken
The chicken needs to lay flat - like an open book - to achieve the desired result. This is done by "spatchcocking" the chicken. Although it sounds like a fancy term, it simply means removing the backbone of the bird with either kitchen shears or a knife. Then you can flatten it down nicely so that the meat is of uniform thickness on both sides. This way the breast and thigh meat can cook simultaneously.
Gourmet Italian restaurants don't often offer Chicken al Mattone, so if you want to see what makes this so special, you will probably have to make it yourself. You are going to need a good cast iron frying pan of decent size. You will also need two clean bricks that have been completely covered with aluminum foil.
However, before we are ready for those items, we need to prepare the chicken - preferably the day before. Once the chicken has been "spatchcocked", press down on it with a lot of pressure so it is nice and flat. Now you want to rub it all over with a good amount of salt, pepper, oilive oil, lemon juice, garlic and your choices of herbs. I can't imagine making this without rosemary, but that is just my personal favorite. Thyme, sage, whatever you like can be used. Just make a paste out of all of these ingredients and rub it liberally all over the chicken. Now place this in a wide dish and leave it in the frig, covered, overnight.
Ok. Time to cook our Gourmet Italian chicken dish - Polla al Mattone! While your oven heats to 450 degrees, get your pan quite hot over high heat and add a good coating of olive oil. Immediately put your chicken in the pan, skin side down. Let this brown nicely for about six minutes or so. You might want to add a little bit more of the herbs at this point. Now, time for the bricks. Just sent them right on top of the chicken and place the whole thing in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Done! Remove the whole thing from the oven and place the chicken on a platter. Since the pressure of the bricks released a lot of fat into the pan, the chicken cooked in that instead of in hot air. This will therefore be a moist, succulent, golden brown chicken full of flavor.
Deglaze the pan with a little wine and chicken stock and let it thicken a bit for a few minutes. Pour it over your gorgeous gourmet Italian chicken and Mangia Bene!
Gourmet Italian Chicken - Chicken Al Mattone aka Chicken Under a Brick!
Have you ever dreamed of cooking in the style of a Gourmet Italian Chef? Be sure to visit my blog to steal some of my until now SECRET recipes and you'll be getting lots of "oohs and ahs" from your family and friends! Mangia Bene
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