Chicken Fricasee with Red Cabbage

I’m going to post this without too much fanfare. Suffice to say, it’s a cracking recipe which uses the dreaded RC and doesn’t involve apples, vinegar or any spices. Which makes it a jewel among veg box recipes.

This recipe is adapted from Marcella Hazan’s peerless ‘The Essentials of Classic Italian Cookbook‘. After French Provincial Cookery, this is the most well-thumbed and stained book in my humble collection.

Chicken Fricasee with Red Cabbage

Gently saute a sliced onion and a couple of roughly chopped garlic cloves in olive oil until soft and golden. Add a whole, finely shredded red cabbage and season. Stir together and cook over a low heat until very tender and reduced in bulk, perhaps about an hour.

In another pan, warm up olive oil and fry 4 to 8 chicken thighs until brown on both sides. Then add these to the cabbage, along with a glass of red wine and a few grindings of black pepper. Cover the pan and continue to cook slowly for another hour or so. Keep tasting for seasoning – red cabbage benefits from generous salting.

By the end the cabbage should be reduced to a “dark supple sauce for the chicken”.

O ye of little faith, believe, for yea this is a well scrummy recipe. Good for wooing algebraically-inclined wenches, too.