This is Chicken Marengo, a Piedmontese dish. Supposedly, it was invented for Napoleon before the battle of Marengo in northern Italy.


1/2 cup olive oil
8 chicken thighs, skinned
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
12 oz plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
20 shrimp (about 1 lbs), shelled
salt & pepper
1 tbsp butter
8 triangles of thinly sliced white bread, crusts removed
chopped fresh parsley


Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown chicken thighs over medium heat, for about 5 minutes, and move them to a large casserole. Add onion and celery to the frying pan and saute until softened, about 3 minutes (I removed the chicken fat from the frying pan before doing this, but I think you're not supposed to do that). Add tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, and wine and bring to boil, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper. Pour tomato sauce over the chicken, and cook covered over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked, about 40 minutes. Add shrimp about 5 minutes before the chicken is finished.

10 minutes before chicken is finished, heat the remaining olive oil and butter in a frying pan, and lightly fry the bread triangles, until they are crisp and golden on each side. Serve chicken with the bread triangles and parsley as garnish.


5/10: Fit for an emperor, perhaps, but I thought this dish was kind of bland. I suppose it is northern food, at least in Italy... I had this with a nice salad and the rest of the white wine. Maybe I was doing something wrong, and I'll do better next time.

Tonight, I made some lamb shanks braised in rosemary red wine bbq sauce, served on a bed of garlic & cheddar grits.



For the lamb:

4 lamb shanks (about 3 lbs)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/3 cups dry red wine
1 1/3 cups beef broth or stock
2 sprigs rosemary
2/3 cup Mutha Sauce (I used Dinosaur BBQ Sensuous Slathering Sauce instead)
1/3 cinnamon stick

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut a few shallow slits through the silver skin on both sides of each shank. Sprinkle each shank on both sides with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy skillet. Brown shanks in oil, cooking for about 4 minutes on each side. Remove shanks to roasting pan, clean pan, and heat remaining 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute onions in oil until tender, season with salt and pepper, and add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Add wine and beef broth, bring to a boil, then add rosemary, Mutha Sauce, and cinnamon stick. Pour sauce over the shanks into the roasting pan, cover tightly with foil, and put in oven and braise for 2 hours, flipping shanks after the first hour.

Once shanks are tender, remove from pan and keep warm, and strain the remaining braising liquid and skim the grease. Reduce the braising liquid in a small pan by about half, until the sauce thickens. Serve each shank over a bed of grits, with some sauce spooned on top.


For the grits:

1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart whole milk
1 cup quick grits
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
tabasco sauce

Melt half the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook onions, peppers, and jalapenos until tender. Season with salt and pepper, add garlic, and cook an additional minute. Add milk, bring to a boil, and turn heat down to medium-low. Slowly stir in grits and cook, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to get a smooth texture. Remove pan from heat, and stir in cheeses and 2 teaspoons of salt plus 1 teaspoon black pepper. When texture is even, spice with tabasco sauce and serve.


9/10: Another heavy dish, thanks to the Yankee grits, but very good. The only problem is it took me a week to find any lamb shanks, and 3 hours in the kitchen to prepare this meal, so don't try this when you just want a quick fix. I also made some roasted asparagus and baby portabella mushrooms to have something green to go with this, but it wasn't the best match. Maybe you can suggest a better side, and I will make it for you.

This dish is Chicken Scarpariello. Scarpariello apparently means "shoemaker style" in Italian.


1 (about 3 lbs) chicken cut into pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon oregano
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
juice from 1 lemon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
salt & pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix together flour and oregano, seasoning with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken pieces in this mixture and brown them in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat in the olive oil. Remove chicken pieces to a plate, and add the onion to the skillet, cooking until soft. Add garlic and cook an additional minute, then add wine and reduce by half, stirring often. Add chicken broth, bring to boil, and add rosemary. Return chicken to skillet, spoon sauce over top, and bake until chicken is fully cooked, approximately 20 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove and keep warm. Bring the remaining sauce in the skillet to a boil, and add lemon juice. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, remove rosemary, and add butter to the sauce, mixing well. If the sauce is thin, stir in an additional tablespoon of flour and whisk. Once sauce has thickened, add parsley, pour over chicken and serve.


6/10: This was pretty good chicken, but on the heavy side. I had a salad on the side, which is probably a good idea, and served with some stuffing. Potatoes would probably go well with this dish, also.

* Made on 6/13/06