If your cookbook collection is multiplying faster than your shelf space, here’s a thought: Use the library as your, well, library.
Identify the cookbooks that you don’t use often, check to see if your neighborhood library carries them, then kiss those books goodbye. Visit them when necessary in the stacks. Hawaii’s public libraries are well stocked with local cookbooks, including many old titles now out of print. Go to hawaii.sdp.sirsi.net to search the online card catalog, or go to the library and browse the shelves (local cookbooks are in the Hawaiiana section with call numbers in the H 640s).
Today’s request is a case in point, from Millie Morikawa: "Several years ago I lent my cookbook by Italian restaurateur Castagnola to a friend. She, however, lost my book, and I truly miss the recipe called Sicilian Chicken." Let’s stop there. You lent your friend a cookbook and she lost it? And didn’t offer to replace it? Is she still your friend?
But onward: George "Cass" Castagnola pretty much defined the Italian dining experience in Hawaii with Castagnola’s, which opened in the Manoa Marketplace in 1984. He trained a generation of young chefs who went on to open their own Italian restaurants all over Oahu.
Castagnola died in 2014 at age 81. But his "Cooking Italian in Hawaii" (Watermark, 1991) is easily found at the library, thus it didn’t take long for me to hunt down Morikawa’s recipe. I can see why she missed it so. The dish is delicious, a mix of potatoes, pan-fried chicken and fresh vegetables, with flavors built layer upon layer in the saute pan.
It is also somewhat involved, so I’ll stop talking now. For more of Castagnola’s recipes, get out your library card.
CASTAGNOLA’S SICILIAN CHICKEN
Adapted from "Cooking Italian in Hawaii"
» 1/4 cup garlic-flavored olive oil (see notes)
» 4 large white or red potatoes, peeled and cut in eighths
» 1 medium onion, quartered
» 1 teaspoon kosher salt
» Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
» 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
» 1 tablespoon dried oregano
» 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in 2-inch-long slices
» 1/2 cup herb flour (see notes)
» 1 medium green bell pepper, julienned
» 1 medium red bell pepper, julienned
» 1/2 pound button mushrooms, sliced
» 4 Greek olives, pitted (or more)
» 1/4 cup Italian white wine
» 1/4 cup chicken stock
Tomato wedges and parsley sprigs, for garnish
Heat oil in large saute pan over medium-high heat. Carefully add potatoes in a single layer and cover. Reduce heat to medium and let cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 20 minutes.
Add onion. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. Stir, then cover and simmer 10 minutes.
Dredge chicken lightly in flour; add to pan and saute until brown on both sides.
Add peppers, mushrooms and olives; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add wine; simmer until liquid nearly evaporates. Add stock; cover and simmer 5 minutes. Serve garnished with tomato and parsley. Serves 6.
Notes:
» To make garlic-flavored oil: Chop 1 large clove garlic and let stand overnight in 1/4 cup olive oil in stainless-steel pan. Add pinch salt and simmer over low heat until garlic is soft and golden; cool and strain.
» To make herb flour: Combine 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving (not including tomato garnish): 520 calories, 16 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 145 mg cholesterol, 700 mg sodium, 57 g carbohydrate, 6 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 37 g protein
Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
Write "By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.
