Sicilian Party Chicken
Calling this dish my Sicilian Party Chicken. I was taught how to cook this dish using rabbit out in Sicily last week, I knew I’d make it again once back home but with chicken thighs or drumsticks. I cooked this dish for 10 adults, 3 teens and a bunch of kids on Friday night, and it was demolished by all. I served the casserole with some couscous on the side and a big green salad dressed sharply with red wine vinegar, salt and olive oil. We started the meal off with a monstrous pile of those arancini, you’ll find the recipe for those on my website!
I really enjoy making these reels and showing people how I like to cook here at home, on a day to day basis. And I very much hope you find these reels, backed up by my recipes on www.5oclockapron.com to be a useful resource. I’m a chef by trade and author of 11 cookbooks, writing recipes and encouraging people to cook from scratch with innovation and skill is my life’s work. Practicing what I preach is also crucial, hence the daily instagram reels, which, to be quite frank, I’d like as many people as possible to see, it’s a noisy world out there on planet cookery content, and your help is much appreciated.
INGREDIENTS
Scaled back from the huge portion I made on Friday night, proportions here to feed x4. This recipe can easily be upscaled to feed more people. This is an easy recipe that packs a punch flavour wise. I cooked mine off in the day time, cooled it down, then reheated in the oven when my guests arrived.
1kg chicken drumsticks
2 onions, finely diced
3 – 4 garlic, finely chopped, or cloves bashed and kept whole
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp capers, desalinated
Around 15 kalamata or black or green olives
1 tbsp raisins
30g whole skin on almonds, roughly chopped
½ - 1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp grape molasses, or use Italian vin cotto
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
500mls water or use chicken stock
Salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Small bunch of parsley, very finely chopped
Good extra virgin olive oil, to finish
METHOD
In a heavy based saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, add the olive oil, onions and garlic and cook over a moderate heat for 10 minutes to soften.
Add the chicken and season well with salt and pepper, turn up the heat a bit to get some colour on the chicken for 3 – 5 minutes.
Add the capers, olives, raisins, oregano, almonds, grape molasses, red wine vinegar and finally the water, bring to a simmer, cover with a cartouche (round of greaseproof paper) and a lid and cook in the oven at 180C around 45 minutes to 1 hour, alternatively cook over a moderate / low heat for 45 mins to 1 hr, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
Remove the chicken from the liquid in the pan, drizzle the chicken over with a little extra virgin olive oil and keep to one side. Put the pan back over a high heat and reduce the sauce until concentrated in flavour and seasoned to your liking, I reduced my sauce by about 1/4 over a high heat. Add the chicken back to the sauce.
Remove from the pan from the heat, check the seasoning, adjusting with more salt and pepper if needed, add the parsley and drizzle over with a little extra virgin olive oil to serve.