Italian for a Day!

One of my classmates and a good friend, Joanie, who ran her family’s restaurant, the Blue Parrot, in Louisville, Colorado for many years, retired and closed the restaurant in 2017. Since then I’ve been enjoying her company at class reunion meetings and lunch gatherings and I’ve loved catching up with this sweet Italian friend, which was impossible in the past because she was always too busy with the restaurant to socialize much. Several of us lamented one day that we really missed the Blue Parrot’s Chicken Cacciatore, so Joanie offered to not only give out her recipe, but give a cooking class too! So, one bright spring day a group of us got together and we watched and took notes as Joanie prepared this hometown “comfort” food for those of us who were privileged to grow up in Louisville and feast often on this delicacy.

Another classmate and friend, Kenny, (also Italian) and his wife Carol, opened their home and their kitchen to us, which made the day even better. I thank God every day for my Italian friends!

The first thing I noticed, which nearly gave me heart failure, was the recipe Joanie gave us. It was the authentic Blue Parrot recipe used for the past 100 years from Joanie’s grandmother, Mary. It called for 118 pounds of chicken! Gasp! Fortunately, Joanie and Kenny got together and came up with a much smaller, family-sized portion.

We face-timed another of our Italian classmates, Jeannie, who lives in the San Diego area, and she joined in on the cooking class. (Isn’t she beautiful? She looks like a movie star in a soap opera or something?)

After we learned how to “pluck” the stems off the cherry peppers, and “massage” the chicken (yes, you really have to do this) with olive oil and spices, it was ready to go in the oven. We didn’t have to wait the four hours for it to bake properly because just like on the Food Network show “The Kitchen” Joanie worked her magic and faster than you could say Chef Boyardee! she pulled a masterpiece of baked Chicken Cacciatore out of the oven for us to eat immediately! It was amazing!

Aren’t Italians just the best?  I found out a year ago through Ancestry DNA that I’m one percent Italian, and I petitioned the Italian Club of Louisville to let me in.  Sadly, they told me I had to be at least 50% Italian, or be married to one, to join.  Not even my logic that I could be at least 50% through osmosis because I grew up in Louisville with all of them helped my cause.  I guess I’ll have to settle for being “Italian for a day”.

(Yours truly with Joanie, and Kenny and Carol.)