Chicken in Tomato Sauce (Kota Kokkinisti)

If you have been to Greece you know that they love their tomato based red sauce dishes. You can find just about any fish, meat or veggie cooked in tomato sauce and served on it’s own with some yummy warm bread, to slop the sauce up, and feta cheese, or on top of pasta, fries, mashed potatoes, or rice. I have also used the meat with sauce to stuff tamales (now that is food fusion), and they are delicious!

I can close my eyes and envision going to a tavern/restaurant in Greece where they have a selection of different main and side dishes and you can pick and choose your main and what you want your side to be. Are you in the mood for beef in tomato sauce over orzo or with fries? Fish with horta (greens) or gigantes plaki? Or souzoukakia over rice? The choices are endless.

This fall of the bone chicken dish uses a few ingredients but has so much flavor, and like a lot of Greek savory dishes it uses cinnamon and cloves for some of it’s warmth. You can use a whole chicken or chicken pieces in this recipe. Bone-in is always more flavorful and keeps the meat more moist, but boneless is fine too. I also prefer to use fresh tomatoes, but if you don’t have them on hand then tomato paste is good too.

You will need:

• 1 whole chicken (~3-4 lbs)
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup butter or olive oil
• 1/2 cup red wine (can substitute water or broth, if you prefer)
• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, grated, or 1 tablespoons tomato paste (see Note)
• 1 cinnamon stick (about 2-3 inch piece)
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 cup water

Steps:

1. Wash and clean your chicken, make sure you have pulled any left over filaments (feather strands), and pat dry.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the chicken.
3. Heat butter (or oil) in pot big enough to hold chicken, add chicken and brown on all sides.
4. Once browned, add wine and bring to a boil for a few seconds.
5. Add grated tomatoes or the tomato paste, cinnamon stick, and cloves.
6. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours, or more if the chicken is bigger. Check the chicken every half hour or so and see if it needs more liquid. If so, add another cup of water each time you check and think it needs some. There should be some red sauce left at the end to serve with the chicken.
7. Portion chicken into pieces or shred it up (removing the bones), and put it into the sauce in pan and serve over your favorite starch.

Note: You can blanch and remove the skin of the fresh tomatoes before grating or you can just grate them raw. If you grate them raw the skin tends to stay behind so when you have grated the flesh just pitch the skin. If you are using tomato paste then dissolve it in the cup of water before putting it into the pot.

Kali Orexi!