This savory Roman chicken dish, also known as pollo alla romana, is enormously satisfying. Although you could precede it with a rustic pasta like an ajo e ojo if you’re really hungry, you can skip the primo, as we did tonight, but have lots of crusty bread on hand to sop up the delicious sauce—the Italians call it fare la scarpetta—followed by a green salad and some fruit to round off the meal.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

One small chicken, cut up into serving pieces
2-3 large bell peppers, red or green, or a combination of both
2-3 canned tomatoes, squeezed between your fingers (or a bit of tomato purée)
1-2 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper
White wine
Olive oil

Directions

You cut up a small chicken into 10 pieces (see below) and brown them lightly in a braiser in olive oil. Add the bell peppers, sliced into strips along with a clove or two of lightly crushed garlic, season with salt and pepper. Allow the vegetables to insaporire for a minute or two, then add a splash of white wine and allow it to evaporate completely before adding a couple of canned tomatoes, squeezed between your fingers, or bit of tomato purée.

Lower the heat, cover and let the chicken to braise for a good 45 minutes, or until the chicken is well done and the sauce well reduced. Allow to rest for a few minutes and then serve.

Notes

Check the chicken after about 30 minutes or so. Some chickens–especially the ‘factory farm’ kind–can give off a lot of liquid. If this is the case, raise the heat a bit and cook uncovered until done. The sauce should be quite well reduced and cling to the chicken pieces–more of a ‘dressing’ than an actual sauce.

To cut a chicken into 10 pieces for this recipes, cut off each of the legs, the wings (including a bit of the breast with the wings) and then cut the breasts off the back of the chicken. (You can freeze and save the back for broth.) Then divide each leg into thigh and drumstick, cut the breasts into two down the center rib and then divide each breast into two, cutting through the bone. Leave the bone on. (If it’s a young chicken, you should be able to manage this with a sharp knife. If not, use a cleaver.) Then trim ‘tips’ off the wings and discard (or freeze with the back). You’ll wind up with 4 leg pieces, 4 breast pieces and 2 wings.

If you can find it and can afford it, buy an organic, free range chicken. They are the only ones these days that taste like anything. And they are less likely to shed a lot of liquid, not having been pumped up with water and who knows what…

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