Michael Tucker's Chicken Scarpariello

(A note: there are many, many versions of this dish –some with lemon(?) some with peppers, some with onions, etc. This is my version, which includes sausage. I think it’s the best.)

Serves six:

Chicken pieces with skin and bone still attached – I use thighs and breasts – using a cleaver, I halve the thighs and cut each breast-half into three pieces. Four half breasts and six thighs will be 24 pieces – that should be plenty. Salt and pepper the chicken

Four sweet Italian sausages – I boil them first; then cut them into bite-size slices and hold
Olive oil for frying – 1 ¼ cups
Garlic – three cloves, chopped fine
Rosemary – 3 tablespoons fresh
White wine – 1 ½ to 2 cups
Butter – about a tablespoon and a half
Salt and pepper
Italian bread

Heat the oil in a large skillet over a three-quarter flame and fry the chicken pieces in batches until just done. Set aside on a plate. Put the sausage into the pan and put a little char on it. Set aside with the chicken.

Then add the garlic – being careful not to let it burn. When it’s just golden, add the wine, the rosemary and the butter and turn the heat up to high. Scrape up all the tasty bits from the pan and incorporate them into the sauce and boil it down until it thickens a bit. Taste for salt.

Then add the chicken and sausage; turn them in the sauce so that everything gets well coated and serve. Don’t forget the bread to make your little “shoe”.

 

- Recipe courtesy of Michael Tucker