Chicken Vesuvio

Description

Named after the Mount Vesuvius volcano near Naples, chicken Vesuvio is a specialty of Chicago's Italian-American restaurants. The dish is made with chicken on the bone, potatoes, olive oil, white wine, garlic, and oregano and finished with green peas. Lemon juice is also often a common ingredient in chicken Vesuvio recipes. In Chicago, this cooking technique is sometimes applied to other foods as well, like steak Vesuvio , pork chops Vesuvio , or even just Vesuvio potatoes . Although the origins of this Italian-American classic remain unknown, some speculate that chicken Vesuvio got its name after the fact that adding wine to the oil causes the dish to smoke like a volcano, while others suggest that it might have been popularized by the Vesuvio restaurant, which operated in Chicago in the 1930s.