Chicken Scarpariello

Par Boil Roasted Potatoes: 

Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick rounds. 

Rinse in some water and then drain. 

Add to a small pot, fill with fresh water and add salt and about a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and the bring to a boil, drop to a simmer and cook until tender all the way through. 

Then drain, and allow the potatoes to steam dry. 

Then toss to ruffle the edges of the potatoes and then place on a sheet tray and place in the fridge to chill completely. 

You can also put in the freezer to speed up the cooling.

Make The Cherry Pepper Bomba: 

In a small pot, line up one even layer of garlic cloves so it covers the bottom of the pan. 

Then add enough olive oil to cover the garlic. 

Bring up to a fry temp and cook until the garlic begins to brown on the outside. 

Once you start to see color, turn the heat down to low and cook for 5-10 minutes more. 

Then shut the heat off, and allow the garlic and oil to slowly cool down. 

Once cool, strain out the garlic from the oil. 

Add the garlic to a blender, along with the cherry peppers, some of their liquid, and the Calabrian chilis. 

Add enough of a tablespoon or two of the garlic oil and then blend until smooth. 

If it’s not blending easily, add more of the oil and cherry pepper liquid until it blends smoothly. 

Add the liquid little at a time until right; you want it thick, but you can always add more liquid to thin it out; you can’t really add body unless you puree more cherry peppers. 

Then pour into a bowl and set aside.

Cut and Velvet the Chicken: 

Cut the chicken thighs into 3 strips and then cut those strips into halves. 

A small thigh should yield 6 pieces. Larger thighs might yield 8. 

Place in a bowl and season with salt and the baking soda and use your hand to squeeze them into the chicken. 

Then add in some of the cherry pepper liquid, enough to coat the chicken lightly, then add in enough cornstarch to form a paste around the chicken. Let marinate for 25 minutes.

Form Sausage Meatballs: 

Take the sausage out of its casing, roll into mini meatballs.

Roast the Potatoes: 

Once the potatoes have fully chilled, we can pull them out, coat them in some of the reserved garlic oil and seasoned with salt, toss and throw those into a preheated 450F degree oven for about 25 minutes. 

Half way through or once they have become golden brown on once side, flip and cook until browned on the other side. 

Once they are crispy and golden brown all oven, remove and set aside until plating.

Cook the Scarpariello: 

While the potatoes cook, get your widest, high rimmed sauté pan and get it preheated on medium high heat. 

Once hot, coat the bottom with some of the garlic oil and then add in the sausage. 

Don’t move it, let it sit there for about 2-3 minutes or until a crust develops on that first side. 

Once you see that, flip them and repeat on the other side. 

Since they are small, we want to cook them a bit fast and hard to prevent overcooking. 

Once browned, remove with a slotted spoon and hold off to the side. 

Turn the heat up to high and Then we’re going to try and snuggly fit in all those chicken pieces in a single layer on the bottom of the pan. 

I don’t usually suggest overcrowding a pan but I’m not worried about overcooking these thighs right now so I’m going to take my time browning them but they will get browned. 

Once they’re browned on that first side, flip them, repeat on that second side. 

Once they’re almost there, move some aside and add in some sliced garlic and allow that cook for 2 minutes to soften them up and become fragrant. Once the garlic is lightly browned around the edges, turn the heat off and we can deglaze with some white wine. 

Scrape up allow this stuck on bits form the pan and allow that wine to reduce by about half and then we can add in a couple cups of our chicken stock. 

Then add in 2-3 tablespoons of our cherry pepper bomba, the cherry peppers and finally the vinegar. 

Then we’re going to allow the chicken to braise slowly while simmering until there is no resistance felt when poked with a thermometer.

 After about 30-45 minutes or once the chicken reaches an internal temp of about 190 and super soft and tender and the sauce has reduced, we can add the sausage back into the pan and allow it to come back up to temp. 

Now for the best part, gonna rip some fresh bread and start to asses the sauce. 

Its thickened, tangy, bright, spicy, packed with flavor, to finished, toss in some cold knobs of butter and slowly swirl it in until blended with the sauce, then finish with the fresh chopped parsley and a touch a lemon juice.

The sauce should look incredible and cling to all the ingredients. 

Serve it in a bowl, the crispy potatoes as a base, then all that chicken scarp piled high on top. And of all the things to eat with bread, it is a must for this dish, that sauce is out of this world.