Mosca's Chicken a la Grande

[OLS]

Anyone brave enough to make the trip out of New Orleans to Avondale for a visit to Mosca's can tell you
that this is one of the most delicious dishes you can find in the world. A classic Italian flavor without
being an Italian Classic. If you do this right, you will want to add it to your bachelor list of dishes you can
whip up at any time without looking at a reference. It's that easy. Or is it??

First thing that separates the cigar smokers who like to dabble in recipes from the chefs who can do
it all is the skillet. Do you have a LARGE cast aluminum or cast iron skillet OVER 12 inches across. 18? 15?
Do you have a range that can BLAST that thing into the stratosphere? It's all about size and heat with this dish.

OK, take a chicken and cut it up into about 10-15 pieces. The real recipe calls for 3 lbs of chicken, but we
are gonna cut it down a bit to fit and to make it manageable.

a chicken
1/2 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of dry white wine
10 garlic cloves mashed
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
half teaspoon kosher salt
half teaspoon fresh black pepper

Heat your olive oil good and hot. Olive oil is not as durable as peanut oil, but you want to get it hot first. Take your chicken and brown it thoroughly in the pan. When it is completely browned, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken. Add mashed garlic, oregano, rosemary, and stir well, so that all seasonings are evenly evenly. Pour in the wine, simmer until wine reduced by 2/3 . Serve hot with plenty of pan juices. I like to also make up some Spaghetti Bordellaise to pour this all over. Just take some Spaghettini, the thin spaghetti, and cook it up right. Add butter, garlic and olive oil according to whatever recipe you find or prefer. Also works extremely well with bird nest pasta.

If you make this and even get it halfway right, you will love it. I like to finish this in the oven under the broiler, or ever do it all in the broiler, stirring about every ten minutes for 45 minutes total cook time. But that takes the right pan, I guess. The most important thing about the dish is getting the heat right and not crowding the chicken. Olive oil may have a low smoke point, but this one really challenges that notion to some extent. GET IT HOT.

[OLS]

DAMMIT!!! Forgot the Photo. The JUICE that this dish creates is heavenly. Can you imagine the rendered stock, wine,
garlic, rosemary and olive oil all simmering together for almost an hour? It might sound fattening, and it's certainly not
DIET food, but it is not actually that heavy. DO NOT fear the juice. Embrace the juice...SOP the juice, BE the juice.

This sounds delicious. Thank you for posting it. I love the "BE the juice" comment. LOL!

[OLS]

Well, came home and made this tonight. KILLED IT. Although i do not particularly care for the pasta
I cooked up to pair with it, the little round tubes, the meat itself was just PERFECT! The photo I led
off with was the actual restaurant dish as shot in the place itself, I think. This photo is 'live', and
still cooling on the counter.

I browned the chicken in a pot, then scraped down the 'gratin' in the oil to free it from the pan, mixed
in the dry spices, mixed thoroughly in the pot, added the wine, brought it to a rippling boil, then poured
it out over the chicken I had sitting in a large pyrex baking dish. I put it in the oven on the lowest rack
under the broiler and about every 10 minutes, spooned the juice over the pieces of chicken. It really
stayed hot, cooked the chicken fork tender, and gave me the perfect crusty brown color. I could have
let it get browner for more flavor, but I was HUNGRY. Also, it should be noted I took a short cut
since I had little cash with me on the way home from work. I had money for wine or fresh garlic, and
I had garlic powder at home. So I made the tough call and went with powder. It affects the look
a lot, the flavor some, and ME none at all. MAKE THIS DISH!

[Bill86]

Damn that looks good! Sometime in the next few weeks that's gotta get made.

I'm always looking for new chicken recipes without vegetables

Hmm.. This looks very yummy. Will have to try it for myself. Thanks for sharing!

[billybarue]

I always get the pan hot first, than add any oil. In general, hot pan + cold oil = meat won't stick. But because you stress very high heat, I was wondering do you bring the oil to high temp with the pan or add the oil after pan is hot?

[Bill86]

Well I said sometime in the next few weeks I'd attempt to make this, but I'm impatient. I made this today, now I'll admit I'm not Brad by any means But he was 100% correct I'd say I came 75-85% close to getting it and it was indeed very good

I'll be talking to you tomorrow and see if I cannot work out a few problems and get this 100%

Thanks again for the recipe, this will probably get made at least once a month.

No pictures this time but next time, for sure I will. We were all a bit too hungry and mauled the hell out of all 3 pounds of chicken. I'd say dinner lasted about 3-5 minutes tops.

The juice is definitely the key though, and I got that QUICKLY. I believe I was one with the juice, shame the chicken wasn't entirely browned properly though, next time....next time.

[OLS]

Sorry I was so late in getting back to this thread....Hot oil, I brought it up slowly while I was chopping something,
lessee, it wasn't onions....maybe I was cutting the chicken. Anyway I got it hot enough on low to do some damage
right off the bat, then turned it up as I had the mass of the chicken in the pan. That was the FIRST browning.

Now to Bill on the REAL deal with the meal. I did brown my chicken well for the second time, in the oven on the lower
rack and using the broil element to keep the heat at max and also throw that radiant heat on the meat to brown it for
visual effect. BUT, while my dish looked almost perfect, in reality I over-cooked it. My white meat was dry and my
dark was acceptable. If I had to do it again, I would settle for less browning on the meat and perfect cooking level.
But IT IS GOOD, ain't it Bill ?!?

[Bill86]

Originally Posted by OLS

Sorry I was so late in getting back to this thread....Hot oil, I brought it up slowly while I was chopping something,
lessee, it wasn't onions....maybe I was cutting the chicken. Anyway I got it hot enough on low to do some damage
right off the bat, then turned it up as I had the mass of the chicken in the pan. That was the FIRST browning.

Now to Bill on the REAL deal with the meal. I did brown my chicken well for the second time, in the oven on the lower
rack and using the broil element to keep the heat at max and also throw that radiant heat on the meat to brown it for
visual effect. BUT, while my dish looked almost perfect, in reality I over-cooked it. My white meat was dry and my
dark was acceptable. If I had to do it again, I would settle for less browning on the meat and perfect cooking level.
But IT IS GOOD, ain't it Bill ?!?

Damn good !

I'm making some double breaded deep fried chicken today but this weekend I'll have a third go around at it. This time maybe I'll do it in the oven solely.

Yeah it seems it's not particularly easy to brown it good and not dry it out. I settled for less browned chicken the second time. It was very good...I'm getting there. Third times a charm, eh? Well I hope so

[T.G]

Originally Posted by OLS

OK, take a chicken and cut it up into about 10-15 pieces. The real recipe calls for 3 lbs of chicken, but we
are gonna cut it down a bit to fit and to make it manageable.

a chicken
1/2 cup of olive oil
3/4 cup of dry white wine
10 garlic cloves mashed
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
half teaspoon kosher salt
half teaspoon fresh black pepper

Brad, did you change the proprtions on the other ingredents when you went from 3lbs of chicken to a whole chicken? At least out here, a whole chicken weighs out at about 4.5lbs coming from the butcher, although that includes some parts (maybe a 1/2lb) that probably wouldn't make it into the dish, like the back and neck, etc...

I'm just looking to get an idea so I can scale it down a bit.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by T.G

Brad, did you change the proprtions on the other ingredents when you went from 3lbs of chicken to a whole chicken? At least out here, a whole chicken weighs out at about 4.5lbs coming from the butcher, although that includes some parts (maybe a 1/2lb) that probably wouldn't make it into the dish, like the back and neck, etc...

I'm just looking to get an idea so I can scale it down a bit.

I have to admit, I just fiddled with the supposed recipe from Mosca's web page. It is somewhat
vague to begin with. Try to ignore my poundage I guess. I use a whole chicken cut down about
twice the normal 2-2-2-2 stage. (2 of everything) I end up with about15-16 pieces.
Ironically the chicken proportions could maybe affect the rest of the recipe if you were scaling way
up or way down, but in general, I think the juice ingredients are about the same for 1/2 a chicken up
to two chickens. It's really just more or less juice to use with your pasta and bread. So you can really
experiment in my experience. But yeah, a whole chicken. And here...you can fiddle with this, too.....'

http://moscasrestaurant.com/recipes-fresh-seafood.html

[OLS]

But down in LA, Adam, and in particular with this dish, I think the back and neck are important to the sauce,
even if they are removed before serving. Lotsa good stuff in nem bones. A good chicken gumbo demands it.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by OLS

I have to admit, I just fiddled with the supposed recipe from Mosca's web page. It is somewhat
vague to begin with. Try to ignore my poundage I guess. I use a whole chicken cut down about
twice the normal 2-2-2-2 stage. (2 of everything) I end up with about15-16 pieces.
Ironically the chicken proportions could maybe affect the rest of the recipe if you were scaling way
up or way down, but in general, I think the juice ingredients are about the same for 1/2 a chicken up
to two chickens. It's really just more or less juice to use with your pasta and bread. So you can really
experiment in my experience. But yeah, a whole chicken. And here...you can fiddle with this, too.....'

http://moscasrestaurant.com/recipes-fresh-seafood.html

Originally Posted by OLS

But down in LA, Adam, and in particular with this dish, I think the back and neck are important to the sauce,
even if they are removed before serving. Lotsa good stuff in nem bones. A good chicken gumbo demands it.

Thanks Brad.

And I don't disagree about the flavor of the sauce when parts like the neck and back are included, when I looked at the photos, I didn't seem to notice them being in there, so I thought they might not be included.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by T.G

Thanks Brad.

And I don't disagree about the flavor of the sauce when parts like the neck and back are included, when I looked at the photos, I didn't seem to notice them being in there, so I thought they might not be included.

I think I left mine in just for the sweet meat, but I live alone. If I was serving it for others I think
they would tend to like it better if they did not see it or need to pick at it. I am glad so many people are
putting this one to use. I LOVE the way it tastes, smells and it fun to cook, and EASY to memorize.
Once you get the sauce down, try to use a little more flair on the pasta. Has anyone used the thin spaghetti
with the olive oil and butter and herbs?? Hell, now I have to make it this weekend, lol. I am using shell pasta.

[T.G]

Tried this last night with a smaller quantity of chicken, it was quite good. Thanks for the recipe Brad.

[Flynnster]

Made this for about 10 people the other day, went great! I might try and add a little lemon next time. Maybe not.

Thanks so much!

[OLS]

Made a big batch of this last night for the freezer, I was just in a cookin mood, so I walked to the store,
got a whole chicken and 4 thighs and got started. I have too much cooked food in the fridge, but I was cool
with letting it sit drenched in juice for a few hours then freezing it. I have come up with the best plan on this.

I like to cut up the breast into nuggets, brown it, and then put it aside. Then I make the recipe as normal,
in a pyrex rectangular baking dish, bottom of the oven cranked up to BROIL. I baste it about four times in
45 minutes then take all the meat out and render the sauce down in the pan by itself for another 15 mins,
(toss in the browned but not cooked breast chunks in also, to finish them off. Then remove the baking dish
to cool.

The breast meat gets way too dry the way I used to do it, cut up into chunks, anyway. This way the dark
meat gets cooked, the sauce is properly reduced and the breast meat is juicy and perfectly cooked.

[Bill86]

Made this again tonight. Third times a charm I'd say for sure

This time I am roughly 90% on getting this perfect.

Chicken could have been a bit more brown, but it wasn't dry at all. Probably could have made it with a bit more "juice" but overall I think I did pretty damn good.

To me this is a dish you need to make 3-5 times to get it just right. But once you do

[OLS]

haha, that's how I basically started the thread, every man needs a few dishes he can make with no reference material
whatsoever, to invite someone over that you want to put your lovin into, to share some wine while you talk and cook,
the seduction of the kitchen. Or you can just learn it for fun and survival, lol.