- By popular demand we are reprinting the recipe for member Carla Blanco’s famous Chicken Cacciatore which was served at the first Progressive Dinner in March, 2011. Add a tossed salad, some rustic artisan bread and you have a perfectly simple and delicious meal for 8 hearty eaters.
- ½ lb. chicken, cut up, or the equivalent amount of chicken pieces (I use boneless thighs and some legs)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 8 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled (1 crushed, 2 sliced)
- 1/2 bottle Chianti
- Flour for dusting
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 6 anchovy fillets, optional (didn’t use)
- A handful of r black olives, pitted (I used Kalamata)
- 2 14-oz. cans of good-quality
- plum tomatoes (broken up with a wooden spoon)
- Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and put them into bowl. Add bay leaves, rosemary sprigs and crushed clove of garlic and cover with Chianti, leave to marinate for at least one hour, but preferably overnight in refrigerator. (did this in a ziplock bag)
- Preheat oven 350°F.
- Drain chicken, reserving marinade in bowl on the side, and pat meat dry with paper towels. Dust the chicken pieces with flour, shaking off any excess. Heat ovenproof pan, add splash of olive oil and fry chicken pieces until they are browned slightly all over; set chicken aside
- Place pan back on heated burner and add sliced garlic. Fry gently until golden.
- Add anchovies, olives, tomatoes and chicken pieces along with reserved marinade. Bring to a boil, cover with lid and bake in preheated oven for 1½ hours.
- Skim off and discard any oil collected on top of sauce, then stir, taste, and add salt and pepper if necessary. Remove bay leaves and rosemary sprigs and serve.
- Serve with crusty bread to sop up the sauce.
Utopia’s First Progressive Dinner
Oh, what a night!
Utopia’s first progressive dinner:
A delicious success, start to sitar!
On Friday, March 11, the Utopia HOA celebrated our friendly neighborhood with a perfectly orchestrated progressive dinner. The fun started at Peter and Aymee Zubizarreta’s home with cocktail bites and wine. Nearly 60 people gathered at the Zubizarreta’s to meet old friends and new, have a glass of wine and pick up their place cards which told everyone at which home they would be dining.
Gracious hosts for the dinner were Sean Reichert, Carlos and Ellen Klappholtz, Nick Psioris, Ron Morgan and Steve Weirich, and Cheryl Andrews. Carla Blanco generously and amazingly created the main course (her recipe for Chicken Cacciatore follows) and salad for all. Sean Reichert bigheartedly supplied the wine for each of the dinners.
In groups of eight to ten, neighbors got to know new neighbors and caught up on news with old friends. “The boundaries of Utopia certainly shrank that night,” said one dinner guest later, “I met people from blocks over who now I consider good friends…and I might never have met them if not for this fabulous dinner!”
After dinner, it was on to Jo-Ann Forester’s home for dessert and a surprise. Jo-Ann, in an exclamation point to the evening, hired a sitar player to greet partygoers at her entrance hall. Sitting cross-legged on a table and playing exotic sitar music, he was a hit. “Classic Coconut Grove!” was heard over and again. The desserts—from cakes to chocolate covered popcorn–were divine and the candlelit setting in her home was a delightful way to end the evening.
Carla’s secret recipe for chicken cacciatore.
Grove History: “Jolly Jack” Peacock
An early pioneer of our neighborhood was “Jolly Jack” Peacock, an Englishman who settled in the south part of the Grove. He persuaded his brother Charles, owner of a wholesale meat business in London, to join him. Charles Peacock, his wife Isabella and their three sons eventually settled in Coconut Grove and in 1882 opened the Bay View House, which later was called The Peacock Inn, the first hotel in the area. Black workers came from the Bahamas to work at the Inn and established the first Black community
in Miami, along Charles Avenue. The Peacock Inn attracted all kinds of visitors including scientists, authors, and nobility, many of whom remained to make Coconut Grove their permanent home.
Reference: activerain.com/blogsview/19295/coconutgrove-history-as-a-native-it-is-my-passion