We suggest pairing stuffed capon with a soft and fruity red wine of medium alcohol content, such as Merlot or Bonarda dell’Oltrepò.
Stuffed capon with potatoes and artichokes
We suggested a side dish with Christmas in mind, choosing potatoes and artichokes as typical winter vegetables, but you can serve the capon with other vegetables if you prefer.
Chef Danilo Angè
Difficulty: easy
Method: 30
Cooking: 80
Chef Danilo Angè
Difficulty: easy
Method: 30
Cooking: 80
Method
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01 / Prepare the vegetables for the capon filling
Wash courgettes and cut into small cubes
Peel carrots and cut into small cubes
Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a pan
Cook carrots over medium heat for two minutes
Season with salt and pepper and let drain on a baking sheet with absorbent paper
Use the same pan to cook the courgettes
Cook courgettes over medium heat for one minute
Season with salt and pepper and let drain on absorbent paper together with carrots
Cooking vegetables separately allows them to retain their texture
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02 / Prepare the filling
Chop prosciutto and put in a large bowl
Add ground meats
Add vegetables, drained of all oil
Add Parmigiano and egg
Stir until the mixture is homogeneous
Taste and season with salt and pepper
Stir again
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03 / Stuff the capon
Spread deboned capon on a worktop
Evenly stuff capon with filling
Tie the bird with food twine
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04 / Cook the capon
Put a baking tray, which will ultimately go in the oven, on the hob
Add extra virgin olive oil
Put capon on the tray and brown over high heat
If you have the capon bones, add them to the tray
Cover with wine and add aromatic herbs
Let wine evaporate
Put baking tray in the oven at 170 °C for 1 hour 20 minutes
Watch while it cooks and, if the capon begins to dry out, add vegetable stock a little at a time
Turn off the oven and let capon rest for 10 minutes before cutting
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05 / Prepare the artichokes
Prepare a bowl with cold water and lemon juice
Snip off tips of leaves with thorns
Remove hard outer leaves until reaching the most tender part
Clean artichoke stems and bottoms with a small knife, removing the harder green part
Cut artichokes in half
Remove the fuzzy choke with a corer or small knife
Dip artichokes in water and lemon
Drain artichokes after two minutes and dry on absorbent paper
Cut in half again
Heat 20 g extra virgin olive oil in a pan over medium heat
Add artichokes, a crushed clove of garlic, salt, and pepper
Cook for about ten minutes, until soft
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06 / Prepare the potatoes
Wash and peel potatoes
Cut into large wedges
Submerge in a pot of boiling water for one minute
Drain and dry on absorbent paper
Put potatoes on a baking tray and cover with about 20 g of extra virgin olive oil
Add rosemary needles
Bake at 190 °C for about thirty minutes
Salt potatoes after turning off the oven
They should be golden on the outside and soft on the inside
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07 / To serve
Cut capon into slices
Place on serving dish
If there is any cooking sauce left in the pan, pour it over the slices of meat
Place potatoes and artichokes on serving dish
Wine pairing
Stuffed capon can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator before cooking. On the day you serve it, you will only have to cook it. The convenience of preparing stuffed capon in advance contributed significantly to its status as a beloved holiday dish.
Do not skip the initial stage of browning the capon in the pan—it creates a nice external crust and gently cooks the meat inside, preserving its succulence.
Do not forget to use pork to give the filling the right fattiness.
Do not salt the filling immediately but at the end, after adding all the ingredients and tasting it.
As with any recipe containing different ingredients, the capon filling owes its goodness to the balance between the ingredients themselves; do not overdo it with any one flavour, they must all be in harmony.
Do not forget to check the capon from time to time while it cooks in the oven; add stock a little at a time if it dries out.
If you have any leftovers from the capon, they will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days. You can also freeze your leftovers, provided that you have only used fresh (rather than defrosted) ingredients in the recipe.
A capon is a cockerel that has been castrated at a young age so that it gains more weight than a normal chicken would, giving its meat a particular softness and flavour.
For these pleasant characteristics, it is one of the undisputed favourites on many Italian families’ Christmas menus.
A rather large chicken could be used as a satisfactory substitute, but it would not have the succulence and softness of capon meat.
You can replace the prosciutto crudo with other cured meat to your taste, like sausage, pancetta, or salami paste, paying attention to how these ingredients impact the flavour of the filling.
Even the aromatic herbs are up to you! Here, we have recommended the classic herbs in Italian tradition.
We suggested a side dish with Christmas in mind, choosing potatoes and artichokes as typical winter vegetables, but you can serve the capon with other vegetables if you prefer.
Ingredients for 4 people
For the capon
1 boned capon
300 g ground veal
200 g ground pork
70 g prosciutto crudo
150 g courgettes
150 g carrots
70 g Parmigiano, grated
1 egg
300 ml dry white wine
1 bunch sage and rosemary
20 g extra virgin olive oil
100 ml vegetable stock (optional)
Salt and pepper
For the sides
1 kg potatoes
6 artichokes
40 g extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
Salt and pepper
Wine pairing
We suggest pairing stuffed capon with a soft and fruity red wine of medium alcohol content, such as Merlot or Bonarda dell’Oltrepò.
