Chicken Scarpariello: A Gift for Gran Fran

There was a time that I couldn't deal with cooking things that had too many steps. I suppose I just became lazy at some point. Eventually, I came back around to the thrill of the multiple step recipe, that involves measuring cups and spoons and even multiple knives for different ingredients. It dawned on me that Gran Fran just keeps cooking, no matter how much mess, how many pots and pans or how long it'll take. If there is a recipe that needs to be made, she will make it no matter what.

This year, for her birthday,one of my sisters asked me to shoot and make a bunch of Gran Fran's recipes so we could make her a nice little book as a gift. I didn't have much time, only a week and a half, so I tried to choose recipes that would be relatively easy to work through.

A quick look through Gran Fran's blog, revealed to me that many of the recipes, though simple, involve many steps and ingredients. So much for making this project easy. Though it was challenging, due to time constraints (not to mention that Gran Fran planned a last-minute trip that landed mid-deadline, making me stop my work, so as to not ruin the surprise gift that was to come a few weeks later), I really did enjoy working on these recipes.

The recipes I chose all turned out really well, flavor-wise, I think, because of the many layers of flavor. For this Chicken Scarpariello, the hot cherry peppers offset the sweet fennel sausage nicely. The steps are simple, there are just a lot of them. But, the end result is totally worth it.

original recipe from The Italian Pantry, Fran Claro's Food Blog

Chicken Scarpariello

Serves six

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, quartered
• One 4-pound chicken, well rinsed, dried, cut into 10 pieces
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 pound sweet sausage with fennel, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 4 to 7 hot cherry peppers in vinegar, diced
• 1 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

Method:

• Add chicken to pan; sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. 
• Brown chicken thoroughly on allsides.
• Remove chicken from pan; set aside.
• In same pan, saute sausage until cooked through
• To pan, add diced peppers, including seeds; stir.
• Remove sausage andpeppers from pan; set aside.
• Add wine to panand reduce by half; add broth.
• Stir all scrapings from bottom of pan into the wine and broth.
• Return all ingredients to pan; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat; cover closely.
•  Simmer 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
• Remove sausage and chicken from pan; set aside.
• Over medium heat, reduce sauce until it coats a spoon.
• Pour sauce over chicken; serve with mashed potatoes.

Winner, Chicken Dinner.

We ate lots of chicken growing up, but Gran Fran got hers from a butcher. A nice, old place, run by a bunch of (as I recall her saying) good looking German men. They'd always give me a mini hot dog while they got our order together.

The quality of the meat Gran Fran bought (and still does) raised all of us with the taste for only the best. She generally stuck to chicken breasts, sometimes legs if there was frying going on, or whole chickens for roasting.

As an adult, therefore, Chicken thighs were a revelation to me. I get the feeling that using Chicken thighs vs some fancier part of the chicken, ranked up there with buying inferior meat products, in Gran Fran's world. Because the flavor and moistness of thighs is sooooo good, I am straying from the Gran Fran and using Chicken thighs a lot.

The recipe featured here only takes about 30 minutes to marinate, saute and then bake, so it's an excellent weeknight meal. I made it for a friend, and served my daughter (remember Ms Iz?) some of the leftovers. Being somewhat cautious about sauces and flavors, I worried Ms Iz would not eat it. But, to my joy, she loved it and has asked me to make it again.

Goes to show, I should probably make the 12 year old eat more sauces....

Chicken Thighs with Oregano, Honey, Mustard and Lemon

• 8 chicken thighs
• 2 tbsps Honey
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil, plus more for sauteeing
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 2 cloves Garlic, sliced thinly
• 1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup White Wine or Dry Vermouth

Method

• In a large non-reactive(!) bowl, place honey, mustard, olive oil, one half of the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. 
• Stir until all ingredients are mixed well.
• Add chicken thighs. Using your hands, thoroughly cover the chicken with the marinade.
• Set aside for five minutes (if you have more time, you can let it sit for as long as you'd like).
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Once chicken has marinated for as long as you have, heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat.
• Add oil when the pan is good and hot.
• Place chicken thighs skin side down onto pan. Pour remaining marinade over chicken.
• Do not disturb them for five to eight minutes, until you see the side of the skin curling up a bit.
• Move thighs to one side of pan, add garlic slices and quickly turn over the thighs to rest on top of the garlic.
• Squeeze remaining one half lemon juice over top of the chicken.
• Remove pan from flame.
• Add white wine or vermouth, trying to pour it underneath the chicken, so as to not soak the skin side.
• Sprinkle oregano, salt and pepper over the chicken.
• Place pan in preheated oven and bake for twelve more minutes, until meat is cooked through and juices run clear.

Enjoy!