To tell the truth, having been raised in Italy many years I never heard of this recipe.
I loved to cook in Italy and as a teen I eagerly collected cook books depicting the typical cuisins from each different Italian region, but never have I came across a chicken Scarpariello recipe. And if I did I would certainly remember an awkward recipe name as such.
However, once I got married and returned to the States this recipe did pop up out of nowhere.
I was thinking to myself: “How on earth can such a recipe be known here abroad, while I never heard of it in Italy?”. The explanation was simple and to tell the truth even pretty logic: it was created by Italian immigrants here in the States.
Chicken scarpariello translates as “shoemaker chicken”. Its origin seems to be a bit obscure, but there is a theory that Italian males that migrated from Italy to New York in order to make a living, used to congregate and eat together. Therefore, this recipe seems to be the result of a male cook who simply put some ingredients together and got good results.
This recipe is a bit peculiar for the fact that it combines sausage and chicken. You do not see this combination really in typical Italian recipes. However, peculiar or not this dish is surely tasty and worth a try. Here is a recipe:
2 chicken breast cutlets cut into chunks
2 links of sliced italian sausage
1 small onion chopped
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
5 cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup wine
1/2 cup broth
1/2 cup flour
Some extra virgin olive oil
Sprinkle of salt
Dash of pepper
Some parsley to garnish
Dredge the chicken in the flour lightly, salt and pepper. Heat a pan with the extra virgin olive oil. Brown the chunks of chicken in a saucepan coated with extra virgin olive oil. Remove once of a nice golden tan color. Add a bit more of extra virgin olive oil to the pan and now cook the bell peppers, sausage, and chopped onion. Once tender, add the wine and the broth. Scrape off the chicken drippings. Add the chicken finally and let the liquid reduce.
Garnish with the parsley. Finally, serve.
This plate may have poor origins but it is really pretty rich. The combination of two different meats like sausage and chicken make this plate pretty unique. I personally was a bit reluctant to give it a try, but it really was tasty and I do make it every once in a while when I have extra chicken and sausage on hand.