International Night – Italy
Spaghetti, pizza, lasagna – all very familiar Italian dishes to the average American. However, for our third International Night we decided to feature a meal from Italy that isn’t commonly served outside of the country. As I do each week, I started with the Wikipedia entry on the cuisine of our chosen country. This proved a daunting task this week, as there were 19 different regional cuisines listed for Italy! This was going to be much more than pizza and spaghetti!
After reading over the different regions, I decided to feature a main dish from the Basilicata area. One of things that caught my eye was the fact that peperoncini are often used in the recipes from this area. I knew that would be a popular choice with my husband, so I quickly settled on a dish, pollo alla potentina, chicken stewed with white wine, tomatoes and peperoncini peppers. I had some fresh mozzarella cheese in the fridge, so I decided to step out of Basilicata a bit and add a caprese salad to the evening’s meal.
Here are the recipes from our Italian night:
Pollo alla potentina
1 chicken, cut into pieces
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
3 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 c. dry white wine
10-15 peperocini peppers, chopped
Chopped fresh basil
Chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Saute onion in oil for 3 minutes. Add chicken and brown. Add wine and peperocini. Reduce wine by half. Add tomato, basil, parsley and parmesan. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with pasta and garnish with additional parsley and cheese.
Caprese salad
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
3 T. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Alternate tomatoes and cheese on a serving plate. Sprinkle with basil and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper.
Tags: Cheese, International, Meats, Pasta, Poultry, Salads, Vegetables