Combine some penne pasta with a delicious red sauce made with eggplant, and you have a meatless pasta favorite for dinner tonight! Then, grab the skillet and create a dish with grilled peppers and onions, chicken and sausage and a burst of flavor with pickled chili peppers! Chicken Scarpariello is an Italian go to favorite!
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I’m Chef Chan. Welcome to Cook Like an Italian. I hope you’re ready to do some good Italian cooking because we’re making a great Sicilian pasta dish today. It’s called pasta alanorma. Now, I generally try to do a lot of research into dishes before I make them. And you know, anytime you go online and it says, “Well, one tail says this and another tail says that.” All I can tell you is that pasta alanora is from Sicily and it is absolutely delicious. Instead of meat for this sauce, it’s made with eggplant. And you know, eggplant can be a little tricky if it’s not cooked properly. So, the first thing you’re going to do is take all the peel off the eggplant, unless you want to leave it on. It’s optional. I’m not crazy about the look or the flavor of the skin, so I just take it off. But if you want to slice them with the skin on, that’s just absolutely fine. You’re going to lay them out on a sheetpan, and you’re going to sprinkle some uh salt and pepper. And then we’re using this yummy Queen Creek olive oil that I love on this show so much. I love and we we use it in the cooking school and at home. Perry Reya and his family have had Queen Creek olive mill in Arizona for many, many years. And they produce the best quality. In fact, they just won an international award for their extravirgin olive oil, organic, no pesticides, and they really care about the water environment in Arizona because, you know, we’ve had a drought for a long, long time. So, they’re very careful. So, I love that. Anyway, you’re going to drizzle the eggplant with the olive oil. Pop it in the oven for about a half an hour. Turn it in 15 minutes so it’s just gives you this beautiful golden um finish. Then you’re going to chop it up into pieces. Now, while the eggplant was cooking, I made the marinata sauce. I have many recipes. We’ve done this quite a few times on the show. So, my recipe for Marinado sauce is on my website at jandiatry.com. While that was cooking, I cooked the pasta. And the traditional pasta for pasta alanora is pennet pasta. Um, so that so we’ve got everything going. I’m going to put some cheese in and some basil. But right now, I want to get this started. I’m going to put the eggplant in my skillet and I’m going to turn it up. And look at I want you to see how beautiful this is. Uh if you don’t cook eggplant properly, it can get chewy and tough and flavorless. So look at this with that olive oil and the salt and pepper. It’s just lovely and it’s just soft and smooth and delicious. Now, I’m going to go ahead and add my pasta sauce, my marinata sauce to this. And I’m going to share a tip with you that I have shared over and over again because it’s so important. It’s going to make the difference between a delicious pasta sauce or one that’s too acidic. When you make pasta sauce like this or a bolognet, say, or a chili, anything with red with red sauce, anything with tomato sauce, if the recipe calls for salt, do not salt it. Wait until it’s done cooking and then salt it. And the reason why is because as tomatoes cook, they become more acidic. As you salt them, they become even more acidic. And so, um, that’s why people add sugar to their pasta sauce. You should never have to add sugar. So, just do that trick the next time you make sauce, and you’re going to notice a big difference. Now, I’ve got that combined. I’m going to add some fresh basil and some uh dried oregano. Sometimes fresh is great. All the time fresh is great, but sometimes the dried really adds a little bit of a different flavor. If you want to use fresh oregano, you certainly can. I’m going to hit it with just a tiny tiny tiny bit of red pepper flakes. Uh, one of the things that I I beg my students in class is to not go overboard on the red pepper flakes. Put some in and then taste it. If it’s not spicy enough, then you can always add more. Um, now I’m going to add a little bit of this cheese to it. My goodness, does this smell good. And then in goes the pennet pasta. Once you’ve got everything prepped, you pretty much have your dish ready to go. It’s what I call a one pot pasta wonder. Look at this. Oh my goodness. The eggplant. If you’re not a fan of eggplant, and there are some people that don’t care for it, I’m going to ask them to just give it a try. It has a very different flavor. A little bit. Ah, let’s Why not? We’re Italian, right? Get all the pasta we can get. Now, I’m going to add a little bit more of that cheese. And we’ll just cook this off until everything is enroed gently. I am using Arando pasta today. And you know, you’ve heard me talk about this company. This pasta is unbelievable. It’s going to be available at Shopright starting August and on Amazon in about 30 days. This pasta is going to change everything for you. It’s 100% organic, 100% Durham wheat. They mill it in Italy. The company owns the mill and the factory and the land so that they can control the quality. They work with uh Italian farmers and then they have agriculture scientists that go in there and make sure they test the soil so that everything is no pesticides, no gly gly gly glyco glyo something like that. I could never say that but it’s bad for you. So don’t put it in your food. Oh my goodness. No riboplavins, no nothing but goodness. Hey, look at this. This pasta is just about done. I’m just getting it all warmed up. I’m going to add a little bit more cheese. And again, with Italian cooking, few ingredients, but good quality. So, get some good Parmesan cheese. Wow, that looks wonderful. That’s a hearty Sunday meal, isn’t it? Look at that. Okay, I’m going to plate this up. When we come back, you’ll see the finished product and then we’ve got another recipe for you. We’re cooking like an Italian today. M. Guess what? The pasta alanora is done. You know, I wish you could hear. Can you hear the way pasta? Listen to that. Oh. Oh my goodness. That’s such a happy sound. Okay, I’m cooking with my favorite ingredients and companies today. Pasta. Armando pasta is amazing. 100% organic from Italy. You’re going to love it. It’s available at Shopright uh August 1st and on Amazon in about 30 days. Queen Creek Olive Mill from Arizona. internationally awardwinning extravirgin olive oil. So fabulous. And I’m going to top the pasta with uh some cheese from my mama’s 90-year-old cheese grater. Grate great grate the cheese and it comes out beautiful. So here we go. Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. Oh my goodness. Look at this. M. You know, this is such a beautiful pasta for non-meat lovers or if you’re wanting to eat well, I can’t really say it’s a little bit lighter, but maybe it is. But the flavors and honestly, for those people that don’t like eggplant out there, and you know who you are, give this a try. I’m not saying anything here. I’m not saying that our photographer doesn’t like not like eggplant here, but he’s going to after this. guaranteed. I’m going to top it with a little bit of parigano. And then we’ll do a little chiffon of basil. And that’s just stacking the basil on top of each other, rolling it up into a cigar, then making some very fine cuts, little ribbons as we call them. And we’ll just top that right on top. And then I just want to always finish it off with just a tiny bit of that Queen Creek olive oil. Oh my goodness. Okay, eggplant non-lovers, just take a look at this and tell me that that’s not to die for. Okay, when we come back, a skillet, another skillet pasta dish called chicken scarpiello. I’m going to tell you what it’s called, why it’s called that, and how delicious it is. We’re cooking like an Italian today. [Music] We got a lot of sound going on in the kitchen today. You know why? Cuz we’re cooking like an Italian. I’ve got two skillets going. So, this is called chicken scarpiello. What does that mean? Chicken scarfiello is shoemakaker’s chicken. It’s like chicken kachaturé is hunter stew. So it’s a shoe makaker’s chicken. And it’s just a beautiful one skillet or two skillet dish. And it’s got chicken. So you can use chicken thighs, which I prefer, or chicken breasts. You’re going to use chicken breast. Pound them out. And what you’re going to do with your chicken is dredge them in a little bit of flour, salt, and pepper. And if you want to um put a little garlic powder in there, you sure can. But we’ve got garlic, fresh garlic in our peppers and onions. And now I’m going to add a pop of of brightness and heat with the these are little um uh cherry peppers. So, I’m going to put those in. Now, normally you’ll find the red ones. So, I’ve actually I’ve seen the red ones a lot more than the green. So, we thought we’d give the green a try. Now, the chicken and the sausage are in here together. I’m going to add some chicken broth. You could also cook your chicken and put it on a plate and then cook your sausage and put it on a plate. But if you’re in a hurry and you’ve got a hungry family, it can all go in one. And then I’m going to add a little bit of white wine to that. We’ll just start letting that cook down. And really the only herb is some fresh oregano. And we’ll put that in there. I’m uh waiting for Oh, they’re good. So, I’ve got my peppers and onions and those cherry peppers. That’s going to go right on top. What a meal. This is uh this is great for a shoe maker or anybody. I love dishes that are sort of one skillet wonders. So, you’re getting all of that beautiful color, all the flavors. It doesn’t take once you get your chicken and your sausage cooked up. Doesn’t take long to get those peppers, excuse me, those those cherry peppers are getting to me, so I know they’re going to pack a punch. All righty. Getting a little sloppy there. There we go. So now all that’s left to do is um cook this for about 10 15 minutes. You want to make sure that your internal temperature of your chicken and your sausage is 165 and your peppers are nice and grilled and softened. So we’re just going to let those flavors melt. We’ve got the wine in there. We’ve got the chicken broth. We’ve got that beautiful extra virgin olive oil that I started with. We’ve got the the flour chicken, so that’s gonna give some structure and some flavor. And a little salt and pepper and garlic powder. And that’s it. So, this is almost done. I’m going to go get a plate. Make sure this is all finished up and we will plate it. And I will share chicken scarf with you. If you’re a shoe maker, you’re going to love this. If you’re not a shoe maker, you’re going to love this. I’ll be right back. The chicken scarpiello is done. I stole a bite of the cherry peppers. They’re hot. They They add a punch. So, if you like spicy, you’re going to love this. And if you don’t, maybe cut back on the on the cherry peppers a little bit, but they’re so good and it’s what makes the plate. So, I took the chicken and the sausage and I cut them up into bite-sized pieces. And then I’m going to lay those peppers and the cherry peppers and the red peppers and the green peppers, the onions and the garlic right on top. Boy, this is just a a classic one pan dish that you can whip together in no time. Chicken is inexpensive, readily available. Italian sausage. I teach Italian sausage making in Arizona. If you ever want to come and learn how to make sausage, this is your gal right here. My daddy was a butcher for 65 years. All right, that looks amazing. And then we’ll just finish it off with a little sprig of oregano. And there’s your chicken scariello. So today we made chicken scarpello, shoemakaker’s chicken, and pasta alanora. really wonderful, wonderful dishes for you to try with your fill family. I want to thank my awesome sponsors for supporting this show, Cook Like an Italian. Queen Creek olive oil from Queen Creek Olive Mill in Arizona. Awardwinning, internationally acclaimed olive oil. Pasta Armando, 100% organic, pesticidefree, no fillers. It’s amazing. I’d like to thank Strictly from Scratch Bakery out of Phoenix, Arizona. They create amazing pastries and ship them all over the world. Arizona Farm Bureau and fillyouplate.org for teaching me how to appreciate farming in Arizona and throughout the country and to to enjoy farmtotable and understand what it takes to grow beautiful, beautiful food. I’d also like to thank I Health Networks. This is a brand new company that is going to change the healthcare industry. They have figured out a way to partner families, doctors, nurses, and the hospitals all together so they’re all speaking one language. They all understand what’s going on with the patient from start to finish. It’s going to streamline health care. You’re going to hear more about that in the coming years. Also, Bloomfield Builders, uh Brian Bloomfield is a custom home builder, and you are going to love what he does. If you’re thinking about coming out to the southwest, you want to go to Bloomfield Builders and find out what he’s doing with custom home building. Well, I’ve got all of the recipes and all of my gadgets and more about my sponsors on my website. So, go check it out if you would, jandiatry.com. And I want to thank you so much for joining me today. And we see you next time when we cook like an Italian. [Music] [Music]
Dining and Cooking