Chicken scarpariello — made by sautéing pieces of chicken and sausage with onions and peppers and braised in a vinegary (and slightly spicy) sauce — translates to “shoemaker’s chicken.” In Neapolitan dialect, “scarparo” means cobbler, but WHY this dish is referring to the occupation isn’t entirely known.
Some theories have emerged that are kind of fun to share. One is that it is a dish that is cobbled together using inexpensive ingredients that someone who may not earn a ton of money (such as a cobbler) could afford. Another is that it gets its name from the way the chicken bones will stick out of your mouth as you eat it, the same way tacks would stick out of a person’s mouth while they prepare to fix shoes.
I’ve read that the dish comes from southern Italy, either Sicily (SICILY!) or Calabria, while others claim it to be entirely Italian-American. Either way, it’s an easy one-pan meal that doesn’t require a ton of effort.
I made it for friends recently and served it with mashed potatoes because I knew the sauce would be good with the mash (and a salad), but obviously pasta would go well with this, too. Bamonte’s in Brooklyn does a pork chop with similar vibes (pickled peppers FTW), so I feel like you could do this dish with pork chops (I’d brine them first, though) or even shrimp would be really nice.
Chicken Scarpariello
Serves 4
Prep time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds|900 grams bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces|340 grams sweet and/or hot Italian sausages (about 4)
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
4-5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
¾ cup|177 ml white wine
2 ounces|56 grams sliced pickled cherry peppers, plus ¼ cup|60 ml pickling juice from jar
½ cup|125 ml chicken stock
¼ cup|60 ml white wine vinegar
DIRECTIONS
Season the chicken with salt. Heat the oil in a large, high-sided skillet or Dutch oven and cook the chicken, flipping once, until golden all over, 10 to 12 minutes. You can nestle the sausages in there, too (halfway through), if there’s room. Cook the sausages, turning, until golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer both the chicken and sausages to a plate.
Drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet, then add the bell pepper and onion and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 4 to 5 minutes, then stir in the garlic. Cook 2 minutes, then add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in the cherry peppers and the pickling juice, the stock, and vinegar. Bring to a low simmer and season with salt and pepper.
Cut the sausages in half and return to the skillet with the chicken. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, then remove the lid and cook 10 minutes more, until the sauce has reduced slightly and a thermometer inserted into the chicken reads 165°F. Serve with a salad and mashed potatoes or pasta.
This is amazing! Quick, easy, deelish! Thanks for the cobbler stories!
Sicily!