Shoemaker’s Chicken - a Fall Classic

Chicken Scarpariello is the real name of this wonderful Italian-American classic, also known as Shoemaker’s Chicken. It’s a terrific blend of sweet peppers and onion, the supporting cast for semi-braised chicken and Italian sausages. While there are some slightly spicy peppers in this version, there is no true ‘spiciness’. Rather, there is a piquancy, a tartness, due to a disproportionate amount of red wine vinegar that blends with white wine and stock to create the delicious sauce. 

This recipe is based heavily on the version served at Rao’s, the famous Harlem restaurant that opened in 1896.  Besides their food, they’re quite famous for having only eight tables and no possibility of a reservation. So the place is filled with regulars who essentially ‘own’ their given table on their given night, along with celebrities who fill in as permitted by the head of the original owning family. 

If you have a serious desire for Rao’s, and haven’t run across their pastas and sauces in a grocery store (they really are quite good), then you can get a chance at the Los Angeles outpost they opened about 10 years ago. Not quite the same thing, but I’ll bet the food is quite good - someday I’ll find out. 

 Rao’s Chicken Scarpariello - “Shoemakers Chicken”

 

2-3 small red potatoes, sliced

• Parboiled to tender

 —————

• Preheat to 400 deg.

3 lbs bone in chicken, seasoned

2 T olive oil

• Brown 5 min on each side
• Remove

2 lbs Italian sausage

• Sauté 3-4 min (undercooked)
• Remove and slice 1” pieces
• Remove all but 2 T oil

2 large bell pepper, in strips

2 jalapeños, in strips

1 lg onion, sliced

1 t garlic

• Sauté 5 min

 —————

4-8 hot cherry peppers (in vinegar)

Sausage pieces

Potatoes

1/2 C chicken broth

1/2 C white wine

1/4+ C red wine vinegar

1 T dried oregano

S&P

• Mix together in sauté pan
• Spread on roasting pan
• Add chicken atop
• Roast up to 30 minutes, sauce thickened

 

Homemade Oriental Chicken Ramen Noodles

If you get a chance, pick up a copy of the new quarterly food / cooking publication called Lucky Peach. It's published by a really innovative literary / cutting edge group called McSweeney's. The cooking mind behind it is David Chang, who I always want to call Michael Chang, the tennis player. Chang has been the hottest young star-chef / restaurateur of the last few years.

A warning - the magazine is esoteric, at times raunchy, highly entertaining, informative, creative and geared primarily to high end cooking. BUT, there are a few really approachable recipes that anyone could tackle. Oh, did I mention the art? No. The journal is creative and  aesthetically brilliant  in several dimensions.

Anyway, you can find it most easily online. McSweeney's Lucky Peach.

The first issue is focused on Ramen, the real thing from Japan, not our $0.11 packages. And eggs. Why eggs? No clue. But hey - they're the publishers, they can do what they want.

As my readers, you know that I won't publish recipes directly from other's sources. But I will share the concept of this recipe, which Chang really presents as chicken soup (with noodles), not as ramen. However, the Asian flavors make it ramen-like (especially to closet packaged ramen lovers).

• Create a three ingredient chicken stock - water, chicken, salt - simmered (not boiled) for an hour or a little more. The simmer concept is a simple yet critical  technique. Remove the chicken and cool. 
• In parallel, create a concentrated vegetable stock (called a nage) using Asian ingredients: onion, kombu (a seaweed), ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, shallots, scallions. 
• I substituted leeks for onion, which added further subtlety. 
• Combine the stock and nage. Add cooked noodles and chunks of chicken. 

The subtle Asian seasonings were sublime.