Thursday, September 23, 2010

City Chicken...

About thirty five years ago, don't I sound old, my aunt Julia showed me how to make this meat dish.  It's a common meat dish in the Polish circle, but my mother didn't know how to make it.  She, my mother was expecting her friend and her family from Chicago and wanted to have some stuff around so you didn't have to be cooking while your guest were there.  A great make ahead dish, Jenny asked me what city chicken was and here it is.

I use for the four of us,

1 1/2 lb. cubed pork, not too fatty
3/4 lb. cubed veal
 I toss this together in a marinating container with pepper and 3 or 4 garlic wedges crushed.  Let sit overnight, if I have time if not, just long enough for me to prepare everything else.

I then prepare breadcrumbs with salt and pepper, and of late I've been adding parmesan cheese and skipping the salt. I like a fair amount of pepper.

A couple of eggs beaten in a separate bowl.

I soak my skewers.  And a frying pan that is wide enough to accommodate your skewers.  Vegetable or canola oil your preference.  I don't use olive oil, I simply don't like the smell when you fry for any length of time.

Pierce pieces of meat onto skewers alternating pork and veal,  dip in egg and roll in breadcrumb mixture. Brown in hot oil on all sides.  Then I put a couple of celery ribs in the bottom of a roasting pan, and sort of stand up the sticks by poking them into the celery, I find if I lay them down they are not as crispy as I like them and then I'm thinking the top layer isn't as cooked as the bottom.  When I stand them up I don't worry about the doneness. You can put them into the fridge and continue just before you want to make/serve your meal, or continue and re-heat.  Once they are all browned I bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min.  Now I usually put about a 3/4 c. of water, or broth into the bottom of the pan, not to soak the meat but just so my pan doesn't burn.  I have a cast iron roaster that I use and I find this works well.  I don't serve this with gravy, but you certainly can make it out of the drippings if you like.  My guys even like these things the next day just slightly heated they eat them like chips, one is never enough.  Enjoy

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love City Chicken. I never realized until I was an adult that it's not something everyone eats.

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Piatto molto gustoso :)
Buona serata.

Alyce said...

I've never heard of anything like this! I'm curious what it looks like. :) Ok, I googled it and got to see a few different versions of it.

Jenny said...

That is NOT what I expected! No chicken is involved, for one thing! But that sounds delectable. I may just have to try it. I must admit I've never done much with veal but you can't go wrong with pork. Thanks for sharing the recipe, dear Irene!

Jenners said...

My family is Polish but I never heard of this dish. Sounds good!

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