Chef Graziella
Cotoletta di Pollo alla Milanese
The golden cutlet of Lombardy, where chicken is pounded thin, coated in the finest crumbs, and fried in butter until it shatters at the touch of a fork. Lemon is the only adornment it needs.
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Pollo alla Romana con Peperoni
Created by
The chicken of Roman summers, braised with sweet peppers until both surrender to each other. This is Ferragosto on a plate, the taste of August in the Eternal City when the whole country stops to eat.
Main Dishes
Italian, Roman
Weeknight
Comfort Food
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield4 servings
Romans make this dish in August, when the peppers are at their sweetest and the city empties for Ferragosto. The holiday falls on the fifteenth, and families who remain gather around tables set with this chicken, the peppers soft and jammy, the sauce barely there. It is not a complicated dish. It does not need to be.
The peppers must be sweet. Red and yellow, never green. Green peppers are unripe and bitter; they have no place here. You want peppers that have hung on the vine until they turned colors, peppers so sweet you could eat them raw like fruit. These peppers, cut into strips and braised with the chicken, become something remarkable.
I see American recipes that add olives, capers, anchovies, turning this into a confused mess. The Roman original has none of this. Chicken. Peppers. Tomatoes. Garlic used with restraint. White wine. That is all. What you keep out is as significant as what you put in. The peppers speak for themselves if you let them.
Pollo alla Romana con Peperoni emerged as a Ferragosto tradition in the trattorias of Rome's working-class neighborhoods, where cooks combined late-summer peppers with the chickens that scratched in courtyard gardens. The dish became synonymous with August 15th, the ancient Roman festival of rest that the Catholic Church transformed into the Feast of the Assumption. When Romans say 'peperoni,' they mean sweet peppers, not the spiced salami Americans imagine.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole chicken
Quantity
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
cut into 8 pieces
kosher salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
1/4 cup
sweet bell peppers
Quantity
3 large (red and yellow)
seeded and cut into 1-inch strips
yellow onion
Quantity
1 medium
sliced thin
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
lightly crushed and peeled
dry white wine
Quantity
3/4 cup
San Marzano tomatoes
Quantity
1 can (14 ounces)
crushed by hand
fresh marjoram or oregano
Quantity
1 sprig
fresh rosemary
Quantity
1 sprig
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole chickencut into 8 pieces | 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pounds) |
| kosher salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| extra virgin olive oil | 1/4 cup |
| sweet bell peppersseeded and cut into 1-inch strips | 3 large (red and yellow) |
| yellow onionsliced thin | 1 medium |
| garlic cloveslightly crushed and peeled | 3 |
| dry white wine | 3/4 cup |
| San Marzano tomatoescrushed by hand | 1 can (14 ounces) |
| fresh marjoram or oregano | 1 sprig |
| fresh rosemary | 1 sprig |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 12-inch braising pan or Dutch oven with lid
- •Wooden spoon
- •Tongs for turning chicken
Instructions
- 1
Season the chicken
Pat the chicken pieces completely dry with paper towels. Season generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes while you prepare the peppers. Dry chicken browns. Wet chicken steams. This matters.
- 2
Brown the chicken
Heat the olive oil in a heavy braising pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers but does not smoke. Working in batches to avoid crowding, brown the chicken pieces skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes per side. Do not move them while they brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside. You will not achieve this color if you crowd the pan.
The fond that develops on the bottom of the pan is flavor waiting to be released. Do not scrub it off. The wine will lift it later. - 3
Cook the peppers and onion
Reduce heat to medium. Add the pepper strips and onion to the pan with the rendered chicken fat and oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers begin to soften and the onion turns translucent, about 10 minutes. The peppers should relax but not collapse completely. Add the crushed garlic cloves and cook one minute more. The garlic perfumes the oil; it should not brown.
- 4
Deglaze with wine
Pour in the white wine and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release the browned bits. Let the wine bubble vigorously until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. You should no longer smell raw alcohol.
- 5
Add tomatoes and braise
Add the crushed tomatoes, marjoram, and rosemary. Stir to combine. Nestle the browned chicken pieces into the peppers, skin-side up. Pour any juices from the plate over the chicken. The liquid should come about halfway up the chicken pieces. Bring to a gentle simmer.
Keep the skin above the liquid. Submerged skin becomes flabby and unpleasant. Exposed skin stays intact and carries the memory of its browning. - 6
Simmer until tender
Reduce heat to low, cover the pan with the lid slightly ajar, and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and tender, about 40 to 45 minutes. The breast pieces may finish before the thighs; remove them earlier if needed and keep warm. The peppers should be completely soft, almost jammy, melting into the sauce.
- 7
Adjust and serve
Remove the herb sprigs and garlic cloves. Taste the sauce and adjust salt and pepper. If the sauce seems thin, remove the chicken and peppers to a warm platter and simmer the liquid uncovered for a few minutes until it thickens slightly. Spoon the peppers and sauce over the chicken. Serve immediately with good crusty bread to soak up the juices. The bread is not optional.
Chef Tips
- •Red and yellow peppers only. Green peppers are immature, their flavor sharp and vegetal. They have no business in this dish. If you cannot find ripe peppers, wait until you can.
- •Ask your butcher to cut the chicken, or learn to do it yourself. The pieces should be roughly equal in size for even cooking. Two breast halves, two thighs, two drumsticks, two wings.
- •Romans would use pomodori pelati, canned peeled tomatoes. In August, when fresh tomatoes burst with sweetness, you may use two pounds of ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped. Both are correct.
- •This dish reheats beautifully. The flavors deepen overnight. Warm it gently in a covered pan, adding a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much.
Advance Preparation
- •The chicken can be browned up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with the braise.
- •The completed dish keeps refrigerated for three days. The peppers continue to meld with the sauce. Reheat gently, covered, over low heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
600 calories
Total Fat
35 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
25 g
Cholesterol
165 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
48 g
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