Make Ahead

Pollo e Peperoni (Chicken with Tomatoes and Red Peppers)

by:
August 20, 2017
4
3 Ratings
Pollo e Peperoni (Chicken with Tomatoes and Red Peppers)
Photo by Emiko
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This is a Roman classic, the sort of thing you'd catch a waft of on a summer morning, to be ready in time for lunch. This recipe is inspired by Roman-resident Rachel Roddy's brilliant first cookbook, My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking. I particularly like her method of roasting the red peppers separately, then peeling their skins off, adding them to the stew at the end. But if you like (or you are like me and can't stand to turn on the oven in the summer time and don't mind the skin of peppers), you can add the raw peppers, sliced into strips, at the beginning along with the tomatoes.

She has the pancetta as an optional element, but it brings a welcome hit of salty flavor that balances the sweetness of the peppers.

This is best served with plenty of bread to mop up sauces—but mashed potatoes, rice, or couscous do nicely, too. —Emiko

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 thick slice of pancetta (about 50 grams), diced (optional)
  • 3 pounds (about 1.3 kg) chicken (either a whole one, jointed, marylands or thighs)
  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine
  • 20 ounces (550 grams) of tinned tomatoes with their juice
  • 1 garlic clove, smashed
  • 1 sprig rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
  • 4 large sweet red peppers
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
  1. Heat the oil in a saute pan or pot and cook the pancetta until golden and crisp.
  2. Add the chicken pieces, skin-side down if possible, and sear until golden, then turn over and brown the other side. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Splash the chicken with the white wine, and let it sizzle until it's almost all evaporated.
  4. Add the garlic, rosemary and tomatoes (crushed in the tin before hand, or break them up with your wooden spoon when in the pan). Cover and cook over moderate heat. Keep an eye on everything for the first 10 minutes, stirring when necessary, then half-cover the pan and continue cooking for a further 45 minutes or until the sauce has become dense and the chicken is tender and starting to pull away from the bone. If the sauce is looking too thick but the chicken not ready, you can add a splash of water and continue cooking. Season to taste.
  5. Meanwhile, roast the peppers in a preheated oven (200° C/390° F), turning them once or twice, until soft and charred, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately tip into a bowl. Cover the hot vegetables with cling film and let them "steam" for about 10 minutes before peeling off the skins. Discard the seeds and stems and then rip or cut the peppers into strips and add to the chicken.
  6. Cook a further 5 minutes then let the pan to sit for at least 15 minutes for the flavours to mingle (better an hour, or even overnight in the fridge for the next day). You can serve it at room temperature or reheat it over low until warm.
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1 Review

Michael
Michael January 25, 2021
I can't begin to rave enough about this recipe. It is so easy to make and it is SO amazingly good. I made it a day ahead and (as recommended) let it rest overnight in the refrigerator. This seems like such a simple recipe but the flavors are so layered they create a complex meal. I also roasted the red peppers in the oven and added them at the end which helped to add that additional layer. My husband won't eat meat on the bone so the only change I made to this was do debone chicken thighs and cook as instructed. I did include the bones in the pot as the dish cooked but it made eating is a bit easier. 100% will be making this again (and again and again)