POLLO ARROSTO (Sicilian) and POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA

Butcher shop in Monreale, close to Palermo

Recently I had a conversation with friends who had just been to Italy for the first time and they were telling me how difficult they found ordering food in restaurants because of their lack familiarity with the language. They eventually found a restaurant where they felt comfortable and returned each night to eat various versions of bistecca – they knew this word.

My son, as a teenager would order pollo arrosto all over Italy and each time we ate in a restaurant. Pollo can be a young rooster (or cock) or a chicken (or chook); pollo arrosto is the generic term for a roast chicken. Alex ordered this not because it was his favourite food, but because he would get confused, and irrespective of what he discussed beforehand or waiters suggested, or what was written on the menu, he blurted out 'pollo arrosto'. 

Interestingly pollo arrosto is not necessarily what many of us recognise as roast chicken; for a start, there are always odori, (smells=herbs as Italians call them), secondly it is likely to be pot roasted, grilled over a fire or if cooked in the oven, it may have a slurp of chicken broth and wine added  to keep it moist and be cooked covered for part of the time.

Alex had trouble ordering roast chicken in Sicily, in fact I have eaten very little chicken on the island – if you are sick there is always gallina in brodo (the chicken in broth) or a young rooster (galletto) cooked with tomato. If you know someone from Ragusa you may have eaten the specialty, festive, braised dish called gallina ripiena (stuffed chicken).  

Here is an unusual recipe for roast chicken reputed to be from Messina, (right, northern corner of Sicily); I found this same recipe in two sources: Anna Pomar’s La Cucina Tradizionale Siciliana and Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi Di Sicilia. Both are sketchy and I have filled in the details.

1. Pre-cook the chicken. Use only enough water to cover the chicken. Add odori (common for broth are celery leaves and a few sprigs of parsley; Add a little salt and one carrot and an onion). Bring to the boil and cook the chicken for 20-30 minutes. 

2. Drain the chicken. Cool it so that you can handle it. Save the broth and use elsewhere.

3. Butterfly the chicken: either cut away the chicken's back bone or cut it along its back, spread the chicken flat (skin side up) and using your hands, press firmly to flatten it. 

4. Brush the inside and the outside of the chicken with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Make about 1 cup altogether, 1 lemon is sufficient.

5. Place on a hot grill and cook on both sides for 15-20 minutes (a moderate flame). An outside BBQ is perfect as there will be smoke. Keep on brushing the marinade over the chicken while it cooks. 

POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA

The recipe above  reminds me of pollo alla diavola. When I was a child growing up in Trieste we frequently went to country restaurants and this was my favourite way to eat chicken (like mother like son) and it is cooked in a very similar way. The differences are slight:

Use a small chicken (younger and small in size - approx 1 k). It does not need pre-cooking.

Once butterflied, marinade it for at least an hour.

Alla diavola means ‘as the devil cooks it’, therefore add about 1 teaspoon of ground pepper.

Once it is on the grill, to keep the chicken flat place a weight on top – a brick or wide frypan with a heavy bottom. The chicken will cook more quickly and evenly.

Contented chooks, Blackwood, South Australia

Missy and Muffy are my friend's chooks. She is never likely to kill them or to cook them in any way.