I spent the last few days in Connecticut with my lovely family cooking, eating, and catching up. It was so much fun and my father wanted to spend some time cooking together. He had seen a Chef on TV make Chicken Scarpiello and he wanted to try it out. My Aunt Nancy makes a delicious Chicken Scarpiello, so rich and so spicy, its incredible! I wanted to make a version that was a little less fatty and eliminate the use of flour. I removed the chicken skin and fat from the dish and used cornstarch to coat the chicken in place of flour. The result was a less greasy dish with a very clean tasting flavor. It was absolutely delicious and spoke for itself. This is bound to be a new family favorite and I hope you try it out! It seems like a lot of work, but it was actually very quick and easy. It was so much fun cooking with my father and eating with the family. (Sorry for such low quality photos! Didn’t think I’d be sharing this post but have had so many people ask for the recipe!!!!) :)
Chicken Scarpiello
8-12 skinless, bone-in chicken pieces, thigh, legs, breast
6-8 hot Italian sausage links
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Cornstarch for coating
1/2 cup olive oil
10 garlic cloves, sliced paper thin
Fresh oregano, leaves picked
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups dry white wine
3 red bell peppers, sliced thin lengthwise
2 Spanish onions, sliced paper thin
8 oz hot cherry peppers in liquid
Optional: Sliced cremini mushrooms
- Remove all skin from chicken pieces and remove any cartilage and fat
- Caramelize onions until nice and brown, add peppers and garlic at the end and cook until just softened
- Cook mushrooms on high separately and cook until browned
- Roast hot Italian sausages until browned evenly and cooked though
- Once the sausages are cooked and cooled, slice into pieces
- Get a saute pan hot, add oil
- Dip each chicken piece in seasoned cornstarch and coat evenly. Shake off excess
- Place into hot oil and continue to do so until each piece is coated and browned on both sides
- Remove chicken pieces and place in baking dishes
- Remove oil from the pan and add white wine and chicken stock, cook on high for several minutes to cook out raw wine flavor
- Scatter caramelized onions, garlic, peppers, hot peppers, picked oregano leaves, and mushrooms over chicken
- Place pieces of sausage throughout the pan evenly
- Season everything with salt and pepper
- Pour wine and chicken stock mix over everything evenly
- Cover pan with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes covered
- Remove foil and bake for another 30 minutes at 400 degrees to brown everything
- Remove and enjoy!
You can eat this with rice, spaghetti squash, or roasted potatoes. If you eat pasta you can enjoy it with that as well. :)
