Farm Kitchen Chronicles: Chicken Vesuvio
A very garlicky dish when you want something that seems kinda fancy (but is actually very easy).
Friends, the slight chill in this Wisconsin air makes it feel officially fall. Fall is an exciting harvest time, and putting-it-up winter time; we finished most of our potato harvest, and the potatoes are currently in our semi-root cellar room, still covered in some dirt to preserve them better. We are still waiting to harvest the winter squash. We canned our tomatoes and canned the pickled beets, and lots of fermented foods are in the fridge or currently on the counter. We are also about to cover winter greens with a small, handmade slapped-together greenhouse so we can hopefully have greens for most of the winter.
We preserve for sustainability, to save money, and for nutrition. Truthfully, going to the store very often has always made me tense, because I want to grow as much food as I can myself, but it is especially true out here, in just about the most rural place we have ever lived. The truth is I just can’t get to a store very easily, since we are so far out, so that makes it a little more Little-House-In-the-Big-Woods out here. If it is hard to get to the store now, after all, it will be a real adventure when it starts snowing!
Anyway, this is a recipe you can keep under your belt for the cold fall and winter months. Chicken Versuvio is known as a Chicago dish, with its origins not completely known. Some say it was created by a restaurant called Vesuvio’s in the 1930s, and then slowly spread to other Chicago Italian restaurants’ menus. The main points of this dish are bone-in chicken, potato wedges or chunks, white wine, and garlic. LOTS of garlic.