I had fun with this one – it’s not always I get to cook with as much wine as I like. My mum really liked it; I thought it was pretty nice, maybe 8/10 good.
The recipe is based on Gennaro’s “chicken supreme”, but I’ve made a few modifications based on what I felt like doing and what we had. The richness and saltiness of the sauce from the oliveoil, olives and anchovies really make this dish. People are often unsure about using anchovies because of their strong smell, but give it a go and you’ll see it adds incredible flavour without a fishy scent. Overall a pretty straightforward recipe, no reason why anyone couldn’t make this.
I suggest butterflying the chicken breast, as this will help it to cook a bit more evenly – unfortunately I had two medium breasts and one large one and even each one on the thinner aspect was slightly overdone.
Shall we?
Italian chicken in red wine sauce
Serves:3-4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
3 medium chicken breasts, butterflied if you wish
10 olives
2 tsp capers
4 cloves garlic
1 chilli
5 anchovies
Half a can of tomatoes, crushed
6 medium portobello mushrooms
~1/2 cup of your choice of red wine
~4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Small amount of flour (to coat chicken)
Parsley (to serve)
Instructions:
- Pit and halve the olives. Slice the garlic, chilli, anchovies, mushrooms and parsley while you’re at it.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Coat sides with a dusting of flour. The flour not only helps the browning/crust of the chicken but will add a bit of thickness to the sauce.
- In a large pan over medium-high heat, fry the chicken in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil until lightly golden-brow on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of red wine (half of what you have). Let the alcohol cook off, then remove the chicken.
- Add another tablespoon of the olive oil and lightly fry the garlic, chilli and anchovies for a minute. Add the mushrooms, stir, then add the rest of the wine and the tomatoes. Add olives and capers as well. I don’t think there’s any particular order once the garlic, chilli and anchovies are fried. You could save a bit of wine to go in the pan just before you finish the cooking.
- Once the sauce is simmering, return the chicken to the pan and cover with a lid for around 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
- Taste the sauce now – it will likely already be salty enough from the anchovies and olives, but add salt if required. Stir through the chopped parsley and one more tablespoon of olive oil.
- Serve with anything you like! I made roast potatoes and sauteed some cabbage (only veg we had).
Concluding remarks: The leftover sauce can be used for a super quick and easy pasta for the next day! Hope your mum like this as much as mine did.