Chicken Scarpariello

Chicken Scarpiello... I'm sure that there are many ways to make this and each of us has their own version of ingredients for this dish. Isn't that what cooking is all about? Individual interpretation? And isn't that the beauty of cooking, adding ingredients or omitting them depending on what your taste buds are desiring? It's all subjective, what you like, don't like and what others like and don't like. Google Chicken Scarpariello and hundreds of recipes will come up and while they may all be very similar, there will be a little tiny difference, an ingredient in one recipe that really appeals to you, and changes the taste. My sister Marlene says she doesn't like rosemary, and makes a funny face when I say I'm going to put it in something. She's usually packing the leftovers for her lunch, rosemary and all!  So play a little, taste as you go and make this your own!

Here's what you will need...

Chicken, on the bone cut up into pieces

Italian sausage

olive oil

butter

garlic

hot cherry peppers

lemon juice

salt and pepper

rosemary

oregano

dry white wine

chicken stock

I'm making lots of chicken today. I cut up 4 whole chickens, and each chicken was cut into 12 pieces.  (the breast, thigh and leg were all cut in half through the bone) I removed the backs and the wings and put them in a pot to make some chicken stock.  Here's my chicken cut up and seasoned with salt and pepper, and rosemary.

Heat your pan and get it hot then add some oil to the pan and brown the chicken, skin side down. Don't keep moving it around, if you let the pan and the oil get hot enough the chicken won't stick!  Let the chicken get some color!

While the chicken is cooking in the frying pans, put your sausage into the oven. I baked mine at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning them halfway so they were browned on both sides.  This is the sausage going into the oven...

When all your chicken is browned, it's time to make the sauce. Deglaze the pan with some white wine, scraping the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add smashed, chopped garlic, and your cherry peppers. Taste it...you want more garlic, add it! You want it with more of a kick?  Add some more cherry peppers!  

 Add some chicken stock, start with a cup. Turn up the heat a little and let the wine cook off.  Squeeze in some lemon juice, add a little butter or not. I added some of the brine from the hot cherry peppers. It really gives the dish a nice kick and adds some "heat".  At this time add any additional seasoning. I used just a pinch of oregano, and another pinch of rosemary. Usually, at this time I would add the chicken and sausage back to the pan and finish cooking with the sauce, but because I had more chicken than my pans could handle, I had to finish everything in the oven.

 Spoon all your sauce over the chicken and sausage and at 375 degrees bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through.

 If you have any questions, please let me know. I'd love some feedback!

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine