Pollo Fricassea (Chicken with White Wine)

Fire your oven until hot, and let the temperature fall a little. Keep your coals hot, as you need the heat of the oven to brown your chicken. In a medium hot pizza oven, place the onions and olive oil in either stainless steel or terracotta pot that has a lid. The chicken should fit on one layer.

Sauté the onion until it is translucent, which should be pretty quick.

Then add the chicken and brown. Depending on your oven, you could do this without turning the chicken. Add the wine and pine nuts and cover. Bake until the chicken falls from the bone—it should feel stewed. Add the olives at the end to heat through.

We had it with lentils in a vinaigrette and Tuscan white beans. The sauce is great. Our friends liked it.

I looked the recipe up on Google (pollo in Fricassea), and there are options where you flour the chicken before you brown it, add an egg yoke to thicken the sauce, add peas, and use a mix of white wine and chicken stock.

Either way, it’s a great brick oven dish. A type of Italian Coq au Vin.