Isanna’s Chicken with Lemon & Cream
Introduction
I love a good revamp, especially if it makes a dish more economical or quicker to prepare. This is one of my Italian sister-in-law’s classic ways with chicken: brown chicken pieces with onion, garlic, and rosemary, then cook gently in white wine, enrich the finished dish with cream, and brighten it with lemon juice and more garlic and rosemary. I’ve gone for chicken ‘nibbles’, the meaty bits of chicken wings, because they are well-priced and quicker to cook than drumsticks and chicken thighs with the bone in.
Serves: 6
Ingredients
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1.3kg (2 lb 8 oz) chicken ‘nibbles’ (meaty bits of chicken wings)
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 Tbsp full-bodied white wine
2 lemons
¾ cup cream
Method
1 Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 2 minutes to start the cooking momentum, then add as many chicken pieces as will fit the pan in one layer. Cook on one side only until golden, spooning the onion over the chicken joints to prevent burning, or moving the onion to a less-part of the pan (lower the heat if necessary). As soon as the chicken pieces are browned, transfer them to a plate and add new ones to the pan.
2 When all the chicken is browned, return it to the pan, sprinkle with salt and black pepper, and add half the rosemary and garlic. Continue cooking for a few minutes, turning the chicken pieces in the seasonings. Add any juices from the plate. Pour in the wine and cook for 3–4 minutes until it has evaporated, then pour the strained juice of one lemon over the chicken.
3 Turn the heat down to low and cook gently until tender, adding 2–3 tablespoons of water from time to time, if necessary, to keep the chicken moist (it’ll take 12-20 minutes, depending on the size of the nibbles). Sprinkle with the remaining rosemary and garlic, and the strained juice of the second lemon, then stir in the cream.
4 Cook for a few minutes longer, or until the creamy juices have thickened slightly (don’t over-reduce them). Transfer to a hot plate, spoon the juices over, and serve immediately.
Hot Buttered Noodles
Italians don’t usually serve pasta as an accompaniment to a meal; it is nearly always served as a separate first course. However, pasta noodles work especially well with this dish because the sauce is rich and creamy, just the sort of thing noodles like to cling to. Pasta has a bit more ‘bite’ than other starch accompaniments such as potato purée or fluffy grains of rice.
Cook noodles such as fettuccine, tagliatelle or pappardelle until al dente, drain and tip into a hot dish. Toss a knob of soft butter through and serve immediately.
I had another run-through of this recipe with drumsticks. Some of them were HUGE. I had just over a kilo (2 lb 2 oz) of mainly drumsticks, and a few chicken nibbles. They all fit in the pan on one level, so I was able to brown them all over. However, I was worried the big thick drumsticks wouldn’t cook through in time, so I partially covered the pan with a lid, and I cooked them for 35 minutes, turning them often.
