Polio Orvietano

Name: Polio Orvietano (Orvieto Chicken)
Yield: 4–6 people
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 500 ml Chicken Broth; salt and pepper; 500 g chicken livers, cleaned and diced; good olive oil; 1 × 1.5–2 kg free-range or cornfed chicken; 48 large fresh garlic cloves in their skins; 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm dice; 250 ml dry white wine; 1 enormous bunch leaf or feather fennel (ask smart greengrocers for imported wild fennel); 48 black olives, stoned (yes, how boring!)

Orvieto Chicken

Preparation info

4–6
people

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Alastair Little's Italian Kitchen

By Alastair Little

Published 1996

About

Undoubtedly (at least to me) one of the greatest chicken dishes of the world. You should only attempt this if you can get copious quantities of leaf or feather fennel (all you herb gardeners). Bronze fennel will do.

Ingredients

1 × 1.5–2 kg free-range or cornfed chicken
good olive oil
500 g

Europe
Italy
Main course
Mediterranean
Gluten-free

Method

The stuffing takes a minimum of an hour, including cooling time, and is best done in advance. Put 4 tbsp olive oil to heat over a medium flame in a frying pan, add the livers and stir until coloured. Then add the diced potatoes, and cook until they are tender (you may need to add more oil, as the po