Chicken Scarpiello

I have eaten this dish in many Italian restaurants. Some restaurants cook the chicken off the bone, drying it out. Chicken cooked on the bone is significantly more suculent. In this version we are adding sweet Italian sausage chunks, sweet pepper strips, potato and mushroom to a lemon-wine sauce Since this dish is not Italian, but Italian American, I feel we can enhance it to suite our own tastes. This intriguing blend of flavors and textures adds greatly to the natural taste of the chicken.

2 cornish hens or poussins, cut at the joints
kosher salt to taste
3/4 cup corn oil
flour
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage without fennel
1 lemon, zested
4 T. lemon juice
4 T. dry vermouth
4 T. low sodium chicken broth
10 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed but left whole
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 5-inch sprig fresh rosemary
1 baking potato cut into cubes
2 red roasted peppers julienned
5 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 T. butter
1. In a small bowl, mix together the lemon zest, lemon juice, vermouth and chicken broth. Set aside.

2. Pour corn oil into large skillet and turn heat to medium.

3. Season chicken with salt, pepper and lightly dredge in flour.

4. Add chicken to hot oil and saute for 5 minutes or until almost cooked through. Remove chicken to warm platter and fry potatoes for 5 minutes. Broil sausage pieces for 10 minutes.

5. In a separate pan, saute garlic in 1 T. oil until brown but not burned. Add the chicken, butter, salt, pepper, potato, sausage, rosemary, and mushrooms. Cook for 4 minutes. Add the lemon-wine-broth mixture and continue cooking a few minutes until the liquid has reduced to a glaze on the chicken. Serve immediately with chopped parsley as a garnish.