Today, I’m thrilled to share a recipe that not only promises a delightful culinary journey but also brings a slice of Italian tradition right into your kitchen. The dish is an Italian-Style Roast Chicken with Savory Sauce, perfect for any gathering that calls for a touch of rustic elegance and deep, comforting flavors.
The Essence of the Dish
Italian cuisine is revered for its bold flavors, fresh ingredients, and its ability to turn a meal into a heartfelt celebration. This roast chicken, enveloped in the rich, aromatic embrace of prosciutto and fresh herbs like rosemary and sage, truly embodies the spirit of Italian cooking. The chicken is roasted to perfection, its skin crisped to a golden hue, paired with a homemade savory sauce that features chicken livers, anchovies, and optional Italian salami. This combination not only provides a depth of flavor but also a nod to the traditional Italian techniques of enhancing and layering tastes.
Ingredients and Preparation
Main Ingredients:
- Free-range chicken: The star of the show, ensuring the meat is succulent and rich in flavor.
- Prosciutto: This Italian dry-cured ham adds a salty, umami-packed touch under the chicken’s skin and inside its cavity.
- Fresh herbs: Rosemary and sage infuse the chicken with their piney and peppery aromas, essential for authentic Italian roasting.
- Chicken livers: A key component of the sauce, offering a robust and earthy flavor that deepens the overall savoriness.
For the Sauce:
- Anchovies and optional salami: These bring a punch of saltiness and depth, which contrasts beautifully with the mildness of the chicken.
- Lemon zest and juice: They cut through the richness with their bright acidity, elevating the sauce’s complexity.
Cooking Steps Simplified
- Preparation: Start by preheating your oven and preparing your chicken by inserting slices of prosciutto and rosemary under the skin. Stuff the cavity with more herbs and onion to ensure every bit of the chicken is packed with flavor.
- Roasting: The chicken is then roasted, regularly basted with white wine to keep it moist and flavorful. As it cooks, the fats and juices meld with the wine, creating a succulent base for the accompanying sauce.
- Sauce Creation: Parallel to the roasting, the sauce is crafted by blending liver, garlic, parsley, anchovies, and salami into a smooth paste. This mixture is then cooked with additional wine and vinegar, resulting in a rich, velvety sauce that complements the chicken beautifully.
- Serving: The dish is served by carving the chicken and discarding the seasonings that have done their aromatic duty, ensuring each plate is not just filled with food but decorated with the essence of Italian culinary art.
Culinary Reflections and Anecdotes
Reflecting on this dish brings back memories of a small trattoria in Tuscany where the simplicity of the ingredients spoke volumes on the plate. It reminds me of the power of food to transport us to different places, invoking the warm bustle of an Italian kitchen, the laughter around the table, and the joy of flavors shared and savored.
This Italian-Style Roast Chicken with Savory Sauce is more than a meal; it’s a celebration of tradition and the comfort of home-cooking, making it a perfect dish to gather around for a special family dinner or to impress guests at a dinner party.
Whether you’re an experienced cook or a culinary novice, this dish promises not only to delight the palate but also to enrich your cooking repertoire with a taste of Italy. Buon appetito!
Italian-Style Roast Chicken with Savory Sauce
Equipment
- 1 roasting pan
- 1 food processor
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 carving board
- 1 foil
Ingredients
- 1 piece free-range chicken approximately 1.2 kg
- 70 g sliced prosciutto
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 piece onion quartered
- 2 sprigs fresh sage
- 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 150 ml dry white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 175 g chicken livers
- 4 pieces anchovies
- 50 g Italian salami optional, such as soppressa or salami brianza
- 1 piece lemon finely grated zest and juice
- 4 tbsp dry white wine
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Heat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Loosen the chicken breast skin and insert slices of prosciutto and a sprig of rosemary under it.
- Prepare Chicken: Place the remaining prosciutto, onion, and herbs in the chicken cavity. Secure with cocktail sticks and set in a roasting pan.
- Roast Chicken: Drizzle olive oil over the chicken, season, and roast for 1 hour 15 minutes, basting with wine periodically until cooked.
- Prepare Sauce: Blend garlic, parsley, livers, anchovies, and optional salami in a food processor until smooth.
- Cook Sauce: In a saucepan, combine the olive oil from the roasting pan with the liver mixture. Cook while stirring and add lemon juice, wine, and vinegar.
- Finish Sauce: Return the blended sauce to the saucepan and continue cooking until it reaches a velvety consistency. Season with parsley and lemon zest.
- Serve: Carve the chicken, discard used seasonings, and serve with the prepared sauce.