As hostess I wanted to prepare something special. I love the recipes of Marcella Hazan and I love red cabbage, so I decided to go for her Fricassea di pollo con cavolo rosso. In her book she writes:
In this fricassee, chicken pieces cook smothered in red cabbage, which keeps them tender and invests them with some of its own sweetness. By the time the chicken is done, the cabbage dissolves into a dense, clinging sauce.
Normally her recipes are fool-proof, so I was a little bit surprised, that my cabbage did not turn into a dense clinging sauce. So next time I will prolong the cooking times. Anyway it was delicious, unfortunately this dish is not very photogenic.
Chicken Fricassée with Red Cabbage
serves 2
Chicken Fricassée with Red Cabbage served with Moroccan Flatbread
1 big onion, sliced
2 tb olive oil
2 garlic clove, peeled and each cut into 4 pieces
1/2-3/4 small red cabbage shredded fine
1 ts salt
3 bay leaves*
2 cloves*
1/2 tb olive oil
2 chicken legs
1,25 dl dry red wine
black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
salt
Put the sliced onion, the 1/4 cup oil, and the garlic in a sauté pan, turn the heat on to medium, and cook the garlic until it becomes colored a deep gold (about 20 minutes). Add the shredded cabbage. Stir thoroughly to coat well, sprinkle with salt, stir again, adjust heat to cook at a gentle simmer add cloves and bay leaves and put a lid on the pan. Cook the cabbage for at least 60 minutes or more, turning it over from time to time, until it has become very tender and considerably reduced in bulk.
Wash the chicken legs in cold water, and pat thoroughly dry with cloth or paper towels.
In another pan, put in 1 table spoon of olive oil, turn on the heat to medium, and, after warming up the oil very briefly, put in the chicken legs skin side down. Turn the chicken legs after a little while to brown them equally on both sides. Turn the chicken over in the cabbage, add the wine and a few grindings of pepper, cover the pan, putting the lid on slightly ajar, and continue cooking at a slow, steady simmer. From time to time turn the chicken pieces over, sprinkling them once with salt. Cook for about 1 hour, until the chicken is tender all the way trough and the meat comes easily off the bone. You will no longer be able to recognize the cabbage as such; it will have become a dark, supple sauce for the chicken. Transfer the entire contents of the pan to a warm platter and serve at once with home made bread.
*bay leaves and cloves are not listed in the original recipe, but we love them.
More recipes and entries in English.
I think your photo looks much better than you’re imagining. This sounds very tasty to me and I like your addition of the bay leaves a lot. I do have one Marcella Hazan cookbook, but I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything from it. (I have waaaay too many cookbooks!)