What Wise Guys Eat

Written by Skip Lombardi


Continued from page 1

Skip’s Chicken Scarpariello Chicken, Shoemaker's-Style Excerpted from my second cookbook, "Almost Italian."

Ingredients:

2 ˝ — 3 Lb. Frying chicken cut into 8 pieces 4 Tbs. Olive oil 4 Cloves garlic, peeled, and sliced thinly 1 Cup dry white wine (Pinot Grigio or Verdicchio are popular choices) 6 - 8 hot cherry peppers, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped 1 14 oz. Can chicken broth (preferably low sodium) 4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley 2 Tbs. Unsalted butter Juice of 1 lemon Salt & freshly ground black pepper Six Links sweet Italian sausage, cut into 1 in. chunks (optional) 4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley

Preparation:

Seasonrepparttar chicken pieces on all sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, then addrepparttar 113124 olive oil. Addrepparttar 113125 garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, being careful not to letrepparttar 113126 garlic burn.

Addrepparttar 113127 chicken pieces torepparttar 113128 sauté pan without crowding. Do this step in batches if necessary. Cookrepparttar 113129 chicken pieces, turning occasionally, until they’re golden brown all over; about 10 minutes. Removerepparttar 113130 chicken pieces fromrepparttar 113131 pan and reserve on a plate, covering them with aluminum foil.

Raiserepparttar 113132 heat to high, and addrepparttar 113133 wine. Boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen any bits of chicken that may have caramelized onrepparttar 113134 bottom ofrepparttar 113135 pan, for about 2 minutes. Addrepparttar 113136 cherry peppers, chicken broth, parsley, and butter. Allowrepparttar 113137 mixture to return torepparttar 113138 boil, then stir inrepparttar 113139 lemon juice. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Lowerrepparttar 113140 heat torepparttar 113141 simmer, returnrepparttar 113142 chicken torepparttar 113143 pan, and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. For a real wise guy presentation, addrepparttar 113144 sausage at this point too.

To Serve

Removerepparttar 113145 chicken (and optional sausage) pieces to a platter, cover withrepparttar 113146 sauce and garnish withrepparttar 113147 parsley. Serve with plenty of Italian bread for sopping uprepparttar 113148 sauce.

Serves four

Skip Lombardi is the author of two cookbooks: "La Cucina dei Poveri: Recipes from my Sicilian Grandparents," and "Almost Italian: Recipes from America's Little Italys." Visit his Web site to learn more about his cookbooks. http://www.skiplombardi.com For comments or questions, e-mail at info@skiplombardi.com


Florentine-Style

Written by Skip Lombardi


Continued from page 1

One ofrepparttar foodstuffs she introduced torepparttar 113123 French Court, was spinach. At this point, though, historians become vague. It seems thatrepparttar 113124 French liked it well enough, but they weren't bowled over. Of course, this was also a period in culinary history whenrepparttar 113125 Royal Court was-literally-grappling withrepparttar 113126 notion of using silverware at dinnertime, so they probably can't be faulted for being less than enthusiastic.

Also, as historian Brandon Case, of King's College in Pennsylvania, writes, "other than [King] Francis I, Caterina had not a friend." And elsewhere he writes thatrepparttar 113127 Royal Court and French people at-large, referred to her as "the Italian woman."

So when spinach began to appear onrepparttar 113128 menus atrepparttar 113129 Royal Chateau Fontainebleau,repparttar 113130 diners began to refer to it, with some contempt, as being "like that Florentine." Yet over time, "alla Fiorentina" seemed to change fromrepparttar 113131 depreciative torepparttar 113132 complimentary "Florentine-style." History remains weak about whether Florentines in general ever had a strong appetite for spinach.

Today, when we go to a restaurant and order something "alla Fiorentina," we expect that it will be served on a bed of spinach, or stuffed with spinach. And we're content to think that we're paying homage torepparttar 113133 good people of Florence. But I submit that, in fact, we're paying homagerepparttar 113134 woman who also introduced high-heeled shoes for ladies.

The next time I go to brunch, I think instead of ordering Eggs Florentine, I'm going to order "Eggs alla Caterina de' Medici," and see what happens. Nah, it's probably too late inrepparttar 113135 game for that.

Skip Lombardi is the author of two Italian cookbooks.

He has been a Broadway musician, high-school math teacher, software engineer. But he has never let any of those pursuits get in the way of his passion for cooking and eating. Visit his Web site to learn more about his cookbooks. http://www.skiplombardi.com For comments or questions, e-mail at info@skiplombardi.com


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