Recipe: Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce

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	Users > AngelaG > Michael Chiarello''s "Casual Cooking" > Meat & Poultry > Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce

Long-Cooked Hen in Tomato Sauce

1/3 cup		extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups		chopped onion
1 cup		diced carrot
1 cup		diced celery
2 Tbs		minced garlic
2		bay leaves
		Sea salt, preferably gray salt
2 cups		red wine
6		cans (28 ounces each) whole tomatoes, partially pureed through a meat grinder or food mill or pulsed in a blender
		Freshly ground black pepper
1		chicken, about 4 pounds
1/2 cup		minced fresh basil
1/4 cup		minced fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

Preheat the oven to 325�F.

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to moderate and cook until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 20 minutes more.

Add the wine and scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any flavorful stuck-on bits. Add the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon salt, and pepper to taste. Taste and add more salt if needed. It is important to add enough salt, so that the chicken seasons as it cooks.

Place the chicken, breast side down, in the sauce, and bring the sauce to a simmer. Transfer the pot to the oven. Cook, uncovered, until the chicken is very tender, about 2 hours, spooning the sauce over the chicken from time to time. Stir in the basil and parsley and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let the chicken cool in the sauce.

Serve the chicken warm with a little sauce spooned over it, or reheat the sauce separately and serve it over pasta as a first course with the chicken as a main course. Any remaining sauce can be frozen.

Servings: 4

Recipe Type

Main Dish, Poultry, Chicken

Recipe Source

Both my mother and my Aunt Mary always cooked for large groups, and they knew how to maximize their cooking equipment. Braising a hen slowly in the oven not only worked wonders on the bird, but also freed the stove top for other dishes.

Visitors to our house knew they were special if my mother prepared one of our homegrown hens. The hens were tough and sinewy, but they had excellent flavor, and the slow cooking in tomato sauce tenderized them. It also created the most spectacular pasta sauce you can imagine. We would have the chicken-flavored tomato sauce on pasta, with the chicken on the side.