Poultry

Pollo alla cacciatora is served in many regions of Italy, but when you see lots of fresh rosemary and tomatoes it is a dead giveaway—you know it is from Tuscany. And in this case the dish is typical of Maremma, straightforward and elementary, with nothing more than good chicken, good tomatoes, and fresh rosemary to make it delicious. This dish ought to be done in advance, as it gets better as it sits. Though it is delicious served as is with just some crusty bread, I especially love it with polenta. And when it is too hot to cook polenta, some tubular pasta, like rigatoni, will do just fine. If you have some left over, just pluck the meat off the bones and save it for another meal, to dress pasta or make a risotto with it.

When duck is braised for sauce in Maremma, pappardelle is the pasta of choice. Therefore, I encourage you to make your own fresh pappardelle, following my recipe here. (Of course, the sauce will be delicious on other fresh pastas, gnocchi, or polenta; and pappardelle is great with other dressings too!) I also recommend using duck legs for this dish rather than a whole duck, as I think they’re tastier and make a better sauce. If you don’t see packaged duck legs, ask your butcher to special-order them for you.

Tortelli are ravioli by another name—a square, filled pasta. And though they vary greatly, like all pastas, tortelli often are filled with fresh ricotta and spinach or other greens, herbs, or vegetables. In Maremma, where carnivorous appetites rule, such a meatless approach is not typical. As you’ll find in this set of recipes, tortelli maremmani have meat inside and outside—and lots of it. Fried chopped chicken livers plump up the tortelli, in addition to ricotta and spinach. Once cooked, the tortelli are dressed with a typical ragù maremmano, made with three chopped meats slowly cooked in tomatoes. My friend Alma likes best boar, chicken, and pork, but here I call for veal, pork, and sausage, because I find that combination comes close to the complexity of the boar. Of course, if you can get boar, by all means use it. This is a great pasta, and worth all the stirring and stuffing. However, it is not necessary to make everything here and put the ingredients together in just one way. The components of tortelli maremmani give many options for delicious meals (and convenient advance preparation). For instance, it’s fine to make the filling and the pasta for the tortelli and leave the ragù for another day. You can sauce your tortelli simply with sage butter, pages 49–50, or just shower them with Tuscan olive oil and Pecorino Toscano. On the other hand, go right to the ragù recipe—skip the tortelli—and make this marvelous sauce to dress any pasta, fresh or dry, or polenta or gnocchi. Indeed, the ragù recipe makes enough for two or more meals. Toss a couple of cups of ragù with spaghetti for a fabulous (and fast) supper one night, and freeze the rest. It will still be perfect whenever you do get a chance to roll and fill those plump tortelli maremmani.

This is a thoroughly traditional Istria-style pasta, the very best of its kind. The sauce, or sugo, is the kind of long-cooking sauce my grandmother made, patiently, from a tough courtyard hen, rooster, or rabbit. It would perk on the stove forever, or so it seemed: whenever I thought it was done, she would pour in a little more broth and let it cook longer. Finally, though, the sugo would be finished—velvety in texture, dense with meat, and rich with flavor. Then Nonna Rosa would use it to dress her handmade fuzi—little quill-like cylinders of fresh pasta. Though the sugo and fuzi would be delicious in other pairings, to me they are meant to go together, and that’s how I give them to you here. Today’s sugo will not take forever. With a smallish hen—organically raised and free-ranging, for the best flavor and nutrition—it takes only a couple of hours to make a thick, brothy sauce with concentrated flavor. For taste, texture, and convenience too, I recommend that you make the sugo the day before serving, so the flavor permeates the meat. The fuzi can be made a few hours ahead and kept at room temperature (or frozen long in advance, as detailed on page 20). If you want to make and serve everything in one day, mix the dough, start the sugo, then form the fuzi while the sauce is cooking.

With hens, ducks, and geese in the courtyard, my grandmother never worried about making a particular kind of broth. When she needed broth for a soup or a sauce, she might dispatch a skinny old rooster or an old fowl whose useful days were done. If she had a pile of bones and trimmings saved from a big meal with several roasts—chicken, ducks, or a goose—she’d make broth. If the bones were from different kinds of birds, it made no difference: they would go into the pot together. That’s the way I encourage you to think about making broth with this recipe (or even without a recipe). You may not have a skinny old rooster running around, but you can certainly search the supermarket meat case for packages of bony poultry parts, such as drumsticks, wings, and backs, or ask the butcher for backs and ribs. Gizzards are good, too. And you should save and freeze the neck and gizzards that you’ll usually find in a package tucked into a roasting chicken (they’ll all be good in your broth except for the liver). Also, use trimmings and the remnants of your holiday roast. If there’s not enough of one kind of poultry, buy two kinds and cook them together. If you should come across a nice beef or veal bone that you’ve frozen and forgotten, could you use it? Though my recipe does not call for it, here’s what my grandmother would tell you: “So the broth has stronger flavor? That’s good. Throw it in.”

GINA Fried turkey was and is very big in the South. I watched Mama Callie make it many a time, and I was always thinking she was going to burn herself or the house down! She’d rub the spice mixture all over the turkey and into the cavity. (Hmm . . . I always thought Pat was the first spice-rub master, but maybe not.) When you fry a turkey, you are sealing all those herb flavors and juices right in. You also get outrageously crispy skin. Pat likes to fry with peanut oil, because of its high smoke temperature and great flavor. Try it; it’s easier than you think (see note), and leaves your oven free for all your side dishes!

PAT Most people will serve chicken for tailgates, but you know we like to shake it up a bit, so we serve turkey legs—or “Fred Flintstone bones,” as I like to call them. To give ours a kick, we let them marinate overnight in buttermilk, hot sauce, lemon, onion, and garlic. Then we take them out the next day, let the excess drip off, brush on the olive oil, and throw them on the grill. Folks will be asking for these so fast, you may never get to your business with the glaze.

PAT: Y’all know I’ve got to be smoking something for every summer holiday. No hickory chips for this bird: apple chips soaked in water and spread over hot charcoal will create a sweet, smoky flavor that’s just right. This citrus marinade works well with the apple chips, and will keep the bird nice and moist.

GINA These pot stickers are ideal appetizers for the ladies. They look like cute little presents. They can be prepared early and kept warm for serving. They’re also flavored with soy, sesame, and a bit of our Neely “medicine”—cayenne pepper. Finally, they’re made with ginger—a tonic of sorts to settle our stomachs after the cocktails and conversation.

We like to refer to this dish as our sophisticated chicken potpie. Lord knows we love chicken, and when you add the sweetness of Vidalia onion, carrots, and celery, you are on your way to some classic Southern comfort food. And we all need a little bit of that sometimes, don’t we?

PAT When hosting on a day as important to everybody as the Fourth of July, you’ve got to have some chicken on the menu for the non–pork eaters. (We will never understand how you could be a non–porker, but that’s for another book.) GINA I’ve always loved drumsticks for their juicy dark meat, and the way they would fit so neatly in my hand when my sister Kim used to fry them for me. Now Shelbi loves drumsticks, too! The combination of honey, orange, and ancho-chile powder, with just the right amount of heat, and the smoke of a grill—baby, these drumsticks are so good they’ll make you want to smack your mama or the cook (although I wouldn’t recommend it!). Allowing the drumsticks to marinate overnight, and then “mopping” on the glaze at the end, will ensure your guests’ memberships in the clean-plate club.

Who needs pork? (Did we really just say that?) This herb- and spice-infused turkey sausage is a Mother’s Day masterpiece. Moms won’t have any idea that the patty is all turkey and no pork.

PAT Gina seasons these burgers perfectly. And unless you are standing in the kitchen while she’s preparing them, you’ll never be able to tell whether they’re turkey or ground beef. Once these babies hit the grill and the sizzle starts, your neighbors will be peeking over the fence. Ground turkey, as a rule, has less fat than ground beef, so don’t buy lean ground turkey (also known as ground turkey breast). Instead, buy regular ground turkey, which is a mix of white and dark meat, and makes for a moister burger. We also add the garlic, shallot, cheddar cheese, and Worcestershire sauce to give it some extra juice and flavor. What you’re left with is a healthy little handful (if you can eat just one!).

GINA Forget calling up the delivery guy: making pizza is easier than you’d think, and this recipe is perfect for movie watching. I love this pizza because it has my favorite ingredients, chicken and spinach, right on top. You can slice large tomatoes if you like, but I prefer sweet and juicy red and yellow grape tomatoes. Not many people think of the yellow tomatoes, but they add extra color and taste great. PAT Most guys prefer any kind of pig on a pizza, including me, but Gina introduced me to this recipe, and that flavor blast of garlic and red pepper won me over. Make one of these and cuddle up on the couch together.

Spenser loves those little fried-chicken sandwiches from fast-food places, so we thought we just had to take a stab at our own down-home remix. You would not believe how many of these bad boys folks can put away! The sweet-pickle mayo gives just the right tang to the crunchy and tender fried chicken. We like these sandwiches on soft dinner rolls, but you can also make mini-biscuits if you’re really feeling buttery bad.

PAT I absolutely love making my grilled hot wings. Gina calls me the grill master: I’m a grill king and a wingman. There is nothing better than wings with a smoky grilled flavor mingling with a sweet, spicy, and creamy dipping sauce. One of the best things about living in Memphis is that we can grill year- round, even on a 35-degree day (which is the normal temperature on Super Bowl Sunday). Grilling wings can be completed in a 10-minute period outside, so even if it’s chilly out, you can stand it!

I love Cornish hens: baked or smoked, but also deep-fried. To me they’re like smaller turkeys, so they’re perfect for entertaining smaller groups or just your family. If you can’t find them at your butcher counter, check the frozen-meat section—just be sure to let them thaw out completely. Because of their small size, you can use an electric fryer instead of the larger turkey contraptions for deep-frying them (another bonus). Deep-fried, they’ve got a golden crust and a juicy, juicy tenderness. If you’re short on fridge space, divide the marinade between two or three large zip-top bags, and divide the Cornish hens among them. Press the air out and seal tight; then you can fit them into a smaller space. Now, Shelbi and Gina might share a hen, so for light eaters just split one bird down the middle. But a heavy eater like me will eat a whole hen. I’ve been anticipating it all day!

Save this recipe for late February, when spring garlic first appears in markets. For this dish, it’s best to use larger heads, planning on one large or two small heads per serving. Piecing out the squab makes for much easier eating and allows you to cook the different parts perfectly, with the added bonus that the wings and body add incredible depth and flavor to the sauce. If you think your knife skills aren’t up to par, you can ask your butcher to do it for you, but be sure to reserve all the pieces. If your guests are big eaters, you might want to double the recipe to allow for one squab per person and serve as an entrée. Lentils would make a nice side.

When you buy your quail, try to get the biggest ones you can find, and make sure they’re semi-boneless, meaning only the drumsticks and wings are left intact for the shape of the finished bird. When you’re working with a bird this tiny, having someone else bone it is helpful. If you have mad knife skills, go for it. Using foil strips like huge twist ties helps set the shape of the quail as they cook, resulting in a pleasingly plump little package. Soft Polenta (page 66) and braised greens are the perfect accompaniments.