Scarpariello is often made with a whole chicken cut into eight or 12 pieces. After trying it that way a couple times, I switched over to using only bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or legs. Breasts tend to dry out much more easily, and it's a bit too fiddly for a simple weeknight meal to fish out the breast pieces as they finish cooking, then add them all back in. Chicken thighs are packed with connective tissue, which means that they're very forgiving to cook. Even if you accidentally overcook them, they stay nice and juicy. Thighs are also great because that connective tissue breaks down and converts into gelatin, giving the sauce better body and flavor.
To start, I brown the chicken thighs deeply, with their skin side down, in order to get them crisp and to start building up fond—the tasty browned bits in the bottom of the pan—for my sauce base. Once the chicken is browned, I remove it and add a few whole Italian sausages to brown. Some recipes call for removing the sausage from its casings; I prefer to brown the sausage with the casing intact, then slice it into chunky pieces before braising it along with the chicken.
Once the sausage is browned, I add an onion and a bell pepper and sauté them until tender, then add a few sliced cloves of garlic and a couple tablespoons of minced fresh sage leaves. In the Cook's Illustrated version of this recipe, Sandra found that using a combination of a bell pepper and sliced pickled cherry peppers offered the best flavor, and I concur. You can use either sweet or hot pickled peppers, depending on your tolerance. (Using hot can make this dish spicy.)
2 1/2 pounds (1.15kg) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (6 to 8 thighs)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil
3 to 4 links sweet or hot Italian sausage (about 1 1/2 pounds; 700g)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh sage leaves (about 1/4 ounce; 8g)
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
8 hot or Sweet Pickled Cherry Peppers, thinly sliced, along with 1/4 cup (60ml) pickling liquid from the jar
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