Farmer’s Style Chicken Recipe

Serves 4 SERVINGS

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken, quartered and rinsed
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 12 slices pancetta
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 large carrots, cut into 1 inch lengths
  • 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1 onion, diced to 1/4 inch
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 sprigs rosemary
  • 3 stalk celery
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 pound whole Homemade Canned Tomatoes OR 15 oz. canned tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped

Brine Ingredients:

  • 1 cup kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon peppercorns
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 quart chicken stock
  • 2 quarts water

Directions

  • Combine kosher salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, scallions, garlic, and allspice in a saucepan. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  • Combine the cooled mixture with water in a large pot big enough to hold the chicken and stir well. Add quartered chicken and refrigerate overnight.
  • Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with towels. Season with pepper.
  • Wrap each piece of quartered chicken in a slice of pancetta and secure with a toothpick. In skillet heat olive oil and butter over high heat. Add chicken and brown for about 10 minutes on each side. Do not crowd or they will not brown. Transfer to plate.
  • Add carrots, garlic, onion, bay leaves, rosemary, and celery to pan and cook about 5 minutes. Add the wine and tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes as you place them in the pot. Add chicken and reduce heat to simmer. Cook uncovered for about 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Transfer chicken to a serving platter.
  • Adjust seasoning. Add parsley. Pour sauce over meat.
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Recipes & Tips for Sustainable Living with Stacy Harris (Living Ready Books, 2013) is an immensely illustrated look into sustainable living. Harris discusses everything from how her family began its sustainable lifestyle and where they are today. She offers a number of recipes for poultry and wild game, along with excellent tips and techniques for growing and preserving all you can harvest. In the following recipe, learn how to prepare old chickens for the table.

Purchase this book from the GRIT store: Recipes & Tips for Sustainable Living.

This dish really is one of my favorite preparations of old chickens. This is one of the first recipes I created from my studying historic French cooking techniques for preparing old game hens. I have updated some of the ingredients but the technique remains the same.

Note: This recipe is great using pheasant.

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