GOOOOOOOOD Morning everyone!

It’s kinda sorta half ass July 4th weekend! WOO!

Except it’s not, not really, since the goddamn 4th falls on a fucking Tuesday.

A TUESDAY! Can’t we make July 3rd the holiday just this once? Fucking Tuesday man. This means I’m off this weekend, I’ll go in to work a very minimal effort day tomorrow, then Tuesday with the day off and right back to the motherfucking office on Wednesday. That shit is fucking broken!

Fuck it it’s still a day off. I’ll take it.

And yes because I’m a benevolent fucking boss, I’ve given most of my crew Monday off. Fuck was I thinking?

Anyway.

To the menu we go!

We’ve got a real beauty of a recipe for you today. A proper Jim Dandy! The cat’s goddamn pajamas.

We’re making Chicken Vesuvio!

Some of you may not be familiar with this Chicago-centric dish so let’s go to the WIKIS for the tale of the tape:

“Chicken Vesuvio, a specialty of Chicago, is an Italian-American dish made from chicken on the bone and wedges of potato sautéed with garlic, oregano, white wine, and olive oil, then baked until the chicken’s skin becomes crisp. The casserole is often garnished with a few green peas for color.”

Make sense?

Well alrighty then!

Chicken Vesuvio!

Our recipe today is courtesy of the very fine folks at Damndelicious.net.

2 russet potatoes, cut into 8 long wedges

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

5-6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 shallots or one LARGE shallot, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

¾ teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups chicken stock

½ cup dry white wine

⅔ cup frozen peas

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

I’m going to use a couple of additional steps along the way to elevate this dish even higher than its already “lofty” status, beginning with this one:

Homemade chicken stock motherfuckers!

I’ve had this stock in the freezer since I made it during our Piri Piri Chicken episode.

You’re going to need to grab yourself some bone-in skin-on chicken for this meal. I’m using thighs today but chicken legs would be lovely too.

Check this shit out:

That’s a pretty damn good deal FROM BRISTOL FARMS! 

Normally you need a handful of gold krugerrands and a parking space for your Bentley just to get your ass in the door at Bristol Farms.

We start the proceedings by mincing up the shallot(s). Recipe called for two but I found this big-ass shallot.

“How shall we mince the shallot, O Lord?”

Like this here.

Now we address the potatoes.

Hello potatoes!

Wash peel and wedge them bastards.

Place the wedges in a bowl, dump on some olive oil and season pretty liberally with some salt and pepper.

The potatoes will cook separately from the main dish and will cook in a 375 degree oven for a total of 45 minutes. At the 25 minute mark we will have the chicken portion of the meal ready to join the spuds in the oven for the final 20 minutes of cook time.

Let’s get busy with the chicken while the potatoes roast.

Break out your most badass cast iron skillet and add in the butter over medium heat.

Chicken goes in next. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

Cook for 5-6 minutes then turn over the chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pan then add in the shallots.

Cook for 3-4 minutes until they just begin to brown.

Toss in the minced garlic and oregano until just fragrant. Flour goes in next. Stir to fully incorporate the flour.

Once everyone is playing together well you can add in the wine and the chicken stock.

The wine we’re using today is Ruffino Pinot Grigio.

I love this shit. It’s crisp, clean, bright and acidic with just that little nice finishing mineral taste right at the end. It’s in my regular rotation.

Using a spatula scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen the crispy chickeny bits. Return the chicken to the skillet.

This will go in the oven when the potatoes have reached the 25 minute mark. Set a timer for 20 minutes and let them finish cooking together.

Let’s get ready for the finish line with our 2 final ingredients.

The peas and the juice of half of one fresh lemon go in right at the end of the cooking process.

Check on them potatoes, see how they’re doing.

Lovely! This is just a damn good anytime you feel like some potato wedges type deal here. PLUS! Baked and not fried. Try tossing these with some garlic and fresh rosemary as a stand alone side dish sometime too.

Time to take the skillet of chicken out of the oven.

Yessir!

Now remove the chicken from the skillet and cover the chicken with foil to keep it warm. Keep the oven going because we’re going to make some bread too. I’ll get there in a bit.

Put the cast iron skillet with the cooking liquids back over a medium-high flame and add in the peas and the squeeze of lemon. Cook the sauce until it starts to thicken and tighten up nicely.

Oh shit! That looks good!

We will also be needing some fresh chopped parsley to finish this fucker.

Now about that bread. I’m using this stuff today.

Yep, that’s from La Brea bakery again. Their baguettes are dynamite. This is a “Take and Bake” package where all you have to do is cook for about 8 minutes in the oven. Super fucking easy plus you get to save the extra loaf for another day. It’s a regular goddamn two-fer!

The bread will go in the oven right as we remove the chicken and potatoes and will bake while we’re finishing the sauce. It should finish baking just in time for dinner service.

There it is. Light, airy, crispy and an excellent chew. It’s also got a little sourdough tang going. Good shit right here.

One of the more challenging things to accomplish in the kitchen is the concept of “Multi-tasking.” It can be a bit overwhelming to a newer cook. Especially when your dealing with a hot oven and you want to try and serve everything as hot and fresh as possible. Something as simple as what we’re doing right here can downright overwhelm some home cooks. The trick is to keep an even keel and don’t panic. When you start panicking shit starts to get fucked up. Trust yourself and be diligent but also take your time. The best solution to this is keep on cooking. Extra repetitions with ANYTHING brings confidence to any undertaking.

Guess it’s time to grab your ass a plate and put some of those roasted potatoes on there. Then get yourself a piece of that chicken, followed by a good ladle of the sauce. Make sure you get yourself some of the peas and pour the sauce right over the top of everything.

Finish with a good sprinkling of the chopped parsley.

Grab a piece or two of bread and pour yourself a glass of the remaining white wine.

Here you go.

Yep. That’s a goddamn star. The crispy chicken skin is what get’s you first. That chicken is moist and cooked perfectly. Then you’ve got the butter, wine and garlic chiming in. If you eat fast enough the potatoes will be still crispy! Don’t sweat it. Let those spuds absorb some of that gravy and just devour the dish as a hole. You’ve got the fresh bright pop of the green peas, that subtle herbal note from the fresh parsley.

It’s honestly the butter, wine and garlic that make this damn thing.

Do you have any idea how good that chicken was the next day.

Dude!

This one is really simple. If anyone out there still makes weeknight meals, this could be one of those! It’s quick to prepare and not too many ingredients.

I’ve made a couple dozen chicken dishes for you and this one is right there with the best of them.

Give this thing a try and find out what all of the Chicago folks know already.

Well, hope everyone enjoys their broken-ass holiday weekend.

Holy shit, we’re in July already.

Football soon come.

See you back here next week for yet another culinary deep dive.

Can’t wait.

Be well everyone.

PEACE!