Pollo alla Romana (Chicken Roman Style)

Red Bell Peppers, Chicken and Tomatoes

You better have some extra crusty bread on hand for this dish.  Pollo alla Romana or chicken Roman Style, will have you going back for more.  Served traditionally in a Trattoria or family style Restuarant, in Rome Italy, you may want to wear some comfortable clothes to the restaurant.  It will be hard to stop eating.   Here is my version based on a very traditional recipe handed down by my husbands Aunt Dora, a Roman Native.

Ingredients: Serving 4 people

3 tablespoons olive oil and one tablespoon vegetable oil

One 4-5 pound chicken cut up into small pieces/ 80 percent of skin removed.

1 teaspoons of pepper

2 teaspoons of salt

1/2 cup chopped white or yellow onion

1 cup of white wine

2 cups of of chopped tomatoes and their juice

1/2 cup of water

2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced thin

3 large cloves of garlic diced into tiny pieces.

Basil or parsley for presentation

Method:

If you can, begin the night before.  Clean and cut up your chicken.  Squeeze some lemon juice all over your cleaned chicken.  Toss and cover your chicken and place in the refrigerator overnight.  (This will remove the game taste from your chicken).

The next day remove your chicken from your refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before cooking. Dry with paper towels.  Add one teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of pepper to your chicken pieces.

Orange Bell Pepper was substituted here~

In a deep skillet, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and your vegetable oil.   Brown your chicken pieces for about 5 -7 minutes.  Set your chicken aside.   Using the same pan, drain your fat.  Take a paper towel and wipe out your pan and set back onto the stove. Turn your heat to medium.  Add your last tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan. 

 Add your onion, garlic and red bell peppers.  Add your teaspoon of salt.  Cook until your vegetable are wilted and fragrant, about 5 minutes on medium.  

At this point add your chicken back to the pan. 

Add your white wine scraping the bottom of the pan.   Add your tomatoes.  Add a teaspoon of salt.  Reduce your heat to a simmer.  Place your lid to your pan ajar, and let cook until the oil separates from the chicken and a ring forms away from the chicken along the rim of the pan.  This should be cooked through in about 45 minutes.  Buon Appetito~