Chicken Spiedini with Amogio Sauce
Chicken
spiedini was "invented" at the Garozzo's restaurant in Kansas City in the 1980's. As the story goes, after his uncle pointed out that his newly opened restaurant did not have enough chicken dishes in the
menu, chef owner Mike Garozzo invented this dish, very loosely basing it on his grandmother's recipe for spiedie. It soon became a local sensation and other restaurants started
serving their own versions of it - while home cooks adapted it for their kitchens. Most recipes for chicken spiedini I found online are fairly similar, I based mine on one in particular but taking inspiration from others. Most
use chicken breasts or chicken tenders, but I much prefer chicken thighs - they are much juicier - and this proved the right call for this dish. The chicken was unbelievably soft and moist, no doubt a product of the long
marination. I was afraid that this dish was going to fail me because I ended up using a sweet cuv&eeacute;e instead of a dry white wine - simply because that was all I had. But it didn't seem to make any difference, I couldn't
detect any sweetness in the chicken. I did like the resulting chicken nuggets (ultimately, that's what they are) very much, and I wish I'd known of the recipe when my kids were little. As it was, my teen wouldn't even try them.
As good as the chicken was, the amogio sauce was a complete disappointment. It's supposed to be a dipping sauce for the chicken, but it can also be used as a sauce for pasta. Unfortunately, it had no flavor to speak of, despite the fact that I used far more lemon juice that the original recipe called for - and that it was freshly squeezed from a
lemon I just picked from my tree. I think that the culprit was the butter, it was just too heavy. As it was, it was a waste of good and expensive ingredients. I did make twice as much sauce as the recipe asked for as I had been
planning to serve it on pasta. Fortunately, the chicken was good enough on its own.
PRINT PDF
Chicken Spiedini with Amogio Sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1" pieces
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 12-18 wooden skewers
- cooking spray
- 1 1/2 cups Italian-style breadcrumbs
For the sauce
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- pinch of kosher salt
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp chopped Italian parsley
Directions
For the chicken
Place chicken, garlic, white wine, olive oil and salt in a large freezer bag. Seal and mix all ingredients well. Refrigerate 24 hours, turning occasionally.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Soak skewers in water. Line or two baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
Place breadcrumbs in a large container. Remove each piece of chicken and lightly but thoroughly coat with breadcrumbs. Skewer ~4 pieces of chicken on each skewer and place in baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, turning the chicken half way through. Serve.
For the sauce
Place butter, oil, garlic, salt and pepper flakes in a small saucepan and cook, stirring, until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined. Mix in the lemon juice and parsley.
|
Adapted from Susie Weinrich's recipe at Mom's Dinner
Do you have a comment on this recipe? Please make it here
Kansas City Recipes | Marga's International Recipes | Marga's Best Recipes | Marga's Food Blog | E-mail
|