View Single Post
Old 09-23-2011, 01:48 PM   #1
OLS
Suck It
 
OLS's Avatar
2
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
First Name: Brad
Location: TN
Posts: 7,912
Trading: (19)
Bolivar AirForce (Served With Honor)
OLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to beholdOLS is a splendid one to behold
Default Mosca's Chicken a la Grande

Anyone brave enough to make the trip out of New Orleans to Avondale for a visit to Mosca's can tell you
that this is one of the most delicious dishes you can find in the world. A classic Italian flavor without
being an Italian Classic. If you do this right, you will want to add it to your bachelor list of dishes you can
whip up at any time without looking at a reference. It's that easy. Or is it??

First thing that separates the cigar smokers who like to dabble in recipes from the chefs who can do
it all is the skillet. Do you have a LARGE cast aluminum or cast iron skillet OVER 12 inches across. 18? 15?
Do you have a range that can BLAST that thing into the stratosphere? It's all about size and heat with this dish.

OK, take a chicken and cut it up into about 10-15 pieces. The real recipe calls for 3 lbs of chicken, but we
are gonna cut it down a bit to fit and to make it manageable.

a chicken
1/2 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of dry white wine
10 garlic cloves mashed
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
half teaspoon kosher salt
half teaspoon fresh black pepper

Heat your olive oil good and hot. Olive oil is not as durable as peanut oil, but you want to get it hot first. Take your chicken and brown it thoroughly in the pan. When it is completely browned, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken. Add mashed garlic, oregano, rosemary, and stir well, so that all seasonings are evenly evenly. Pour in the wine, simmer until wine reduced by 2/3 . Serve hot with plenty of pan juices. I like to also make up some Spaghetti Bordellaise to pour this all over. Just take some Spaghettini, the thin spaghetti, and cook it up right. Add butter, garlic and olive oil according to whatever recipe you find or prefer. Also works extremely well with bird nest pasta.

If you make this and even get it halfway right, you will love it. I like to finish this in the oven under the broiler, or ever do it all in the broiler, stirring about every ten minutes for 45 minutes total cook time. But that takes the right pan, I guess. The most important thing about the dish is getting the heat right and not crowding the chicken. Olive oil may have a low smoke point, but this one really challenges that notion to some extent. GET IT HOT.
OLS is offline   Reply With Quote