Submitted by: Richard Hammond
Servings: Serves 8 as an Entree
Ingredients: 4 lbs. each chicken legs & thighs w/skin
3 lbs. preservative-free Italian sweet fennel sausage
½ cup coconut flour
3 heads garlic, roasted
3 tbsp. dried Turkish oregano
½ lb. sun-dried tomatoes
3 lbs Spanish onion, medium dice
(2) 28 oz. cans San Marzano whole plum tomatoes
12 oz. golden raisins
4 navel oranges, seeded and juiced
2 bunches broccoli di rappa
2 cups no sodium chicken broth
(1) 32 oz. jar roasted peppers, drained
2 – 3 tbsp. Indian crushed red peppers
1 ½ tsp. ground Ceylon cinnamon
4 branches fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley, washed and spun-dry
¼ tsp. orange oil
Sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste
Instructions: NOTES:
The oregano, cinnamon and crushed red peppers are available from www.penzeys.com and if you are allergic to tomatoes or are avoiding nightshades, simply do not make this recipe. Depending on your personal tastes add more or less crushed chiles, leave them out or put them on the side. I do make a different version of this recipe using fresh and dried mushrooms without the tomatoes but it is not the same…
PREP:
To roast the garlic, slice the very tops off the whole head with a serrated knife. Put a little coconut oil on a sheet of heavy foil and add the garlic cut side down. Wrap the foil into a purse with a small vent and bake at 350° F for about an hour. Cool and put them in a covered dish in the refrigerator.
Dice the onion ahead of time and refrigerate, reserving all the trimmings. Separate the parsley leaves and stems, reserving the leaves in a paper towel-lined container in the refrigerator. Put the chicken broth (homemade or store bought just low or zero sodium) in a saucepan on medium-low heat and simmer with the onion scraps and parsley stems until reduced by half. Strain and reserve.
Prepare a colander in the sink and a large stainless mixing bowl with a little hot water. Add 1 tbsp. of kosher salt, stir to dissolve and fill half-way with cold water. Dump in a couple trays of ice cubes.
Trim the broccoli rabe, and cut the stems about one-inch long and cut the florets a little bigger keeping the two separate. Add 1 tbsp. of kosher salt to a pot of boiling water and add the stem pieces first, lower the heat to simmering and cook the stems for one minute, add the florets, stir and cook for another two minutes.
Turn off the heat, stir a few times and pour the rabe into the colander. Pick up the colander and shake it over the sink and pour the rabe into the ice water. Swirl it around and let the rabe soak about 10 to 15 minutes until all the ice is melted. Drain the rabe in the same colander and transfer to a salad spinner.
Spin and empty the water a few times to get the rabe as dry as you can, then picking up handfuls of the rabe squeeze with both hands to get out any remaining water. Place the broccoli rabe in a paper towel-lined container, cover and refrigerate until ready for use.
Hand-crush the canned tomatoes removing any tomato cores and skin. Containerize and refrigerate. Put the coconut flour in a medium mixing bowl; add 1 tbsp. of the oregano crushed between your palms and 2 tsp. sea salt and some cracked pepper. Leave out on the counter covered with saran.
BEGIN THE CACCIATORE:
Brown the pork sausages in a heavy Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Take the oven off heat and remove the sausages to a carving board. Slice into ½” rounds and put in a bowl with their juices. Refrigerate them if you are not finishing the recipe right away.
Wash the chicken parts and pat them dry. Return the Dutch oven to medium heat and roll the chicken in the prepared coconut flour. Drop them in the hot pork fat and brown on all sides. You may need to do this in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Place the browned chicken on a platter while you make the gravy and pre-heat the oven to 250° F.
Add the diced onion and sauté until browned, squeeze in the three heads of roasted garlic and add the sun-dried tomatoes and the raisins. Sauté a few minutes more and stir in the crushed red pepper, cinnamon and oregano.
Stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes and deglaze with the orange juice, reducing by a third. Add the crushed tomatoes, the roasted peppers, the reserved chicken broth and the sliced sausages. Lower the heat and simmer the gravy for up to an hour until it has thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the salt and hot chiles if needed, then cover the Dutch oven and take it off the heat.
Bring some water to a boil in a small saucepan and blanch the rosemary for just 4 to 5 seconds in the boiling water and dunk the herb in a small bowl of ice water for 30 seconds. Shake off the rosemary branches and bundle them with the thyme and tie them with a long piece of butcher’s twine soaked in water.
Chop half the parsley leaves and add them with the orange oil into the Dutch oven and mix. Ladle a little gravy into a large covered casserole or clay pot and add the chicken pieces next. Cover them with the rest of the gravy and nestle the bundle of herbs into the middle of the baking dish, leaving the long string hanging out. Roll it into a ball and tie with a half knot.
Bake the casserole on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 2 hours. Take it out, remove the bundle of herbs and stir in the reserved broccoli rabe. Cover the pot and return to the oven. Turn off the heat and let the cacciatore rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Put 8 large flat oven-proof bowls on the lower rack of the oven to warm.
When you’re ready to serve, chop the remaining parsley leaves and take out the casserole. Take out a heated bowl and use tongs to place one chicken leg and one thigh in the bowl, ladle some gravy over the top and garnish each serving with the chopped parsley. Place each bowl on a large flat plate and serve with a sharp knife, fork and a spoon.
We love this one in it’s many forms. I am allergic to tomatoes, so love the alternative version.
Just to be clear you want 8 legs and 8 thighs at least so it doesn’t matter if that’s not exactly 4 lbs of each part; sorry for the confusion. Theflavors here are a blending of Southern Italy with Sicily’s neighbor to the south, North Africa, thus the citrus, cinnamon and dried fruit (you could also mix some unsulphured dried apricots and fresh dates with those raisins as well)…
Compare, che fa, che se dice? For all the Italians out there you may have noticed that I did not use any olive oil in my gravy. I don’t cook with olive oil anymore but use it for dressing only, SO when you serve this hunter’s stew by all means garnish each dish generously with some frutata EV olive oil. Buono appetito!