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