Years ago I spent a few months working in an old Italian restaurant as I waited for the plans to be approved for a new restaurant I would be opening. I needed to keep working and this job just happened to be available. It didn’t pay very well, but as far as anyone knew I was just an experienced line cook , I had never let on exactly how experienced I was. Sometimes that was a good thing.
I remember the chef there was a bit eccentric (to be kind) and had an unusual way of doing things. Actually he didn’t like to do anything, and left the work to his sous chef. As luck would have it one day neither of them showed up to work, and the restaurant manager asked me if I was up to the task, I told him I could handle it and just asked for a copy of the menu. Needless to say the staff was fairly surprised at the difference in how the food looked as well as tasted with the new line cook preparing the meals as he read the menu to see what went in each dish. Like I always say it’s not rocket science it’s just making food taste good.
One of the dishes on that menu had come from the owners Italian Grandmother who had come from Naples at the turn of the century and made this dish regularly for her family. I added the artichokes in my rendition to help balance the flavors of the rosemary and lemon, so feel free to leave them out of the recipe.
I had a great time that night as I worked through the restaurant’s menu for the fist time, making all the dishes that had been ordered, but the problem came the next day when the smug Executive Chef was informed of what I had done. I had disrupted the status quo and made both chefs look pretty bad in the process. They still had no idea I was a chef and I guess that made it all the worse. So I decided it was time to move on from my temporary job at that restaurant, and ended up helping with construction of the new restaurant I would be going to just to keep busy.
Chicken Scarpariello became one of my favorite dishes because of the different elements that made up that dish and over the years its made its way on to menus or at the very least been run as a special at the restaurants I’ve worked at. My updated version of this “shoemaker’s style” chicken dish, is sure to please your friends and family and I promise you won’t hear “Chicken Again?”
- 4 boneless chicken thighs
- 1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage sliced on a diagonal
- 2 medium potatoes - cut into medium cubes
- 6 ounces mushrooms - sliced
- 4 ounces artichoke hearts -sliced
- 2 stalks fresh rosemary
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp of granulated onion
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- juice from one lemon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place cut potatoes in baking dish and add one tablespoon of olive oil and a good sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper. Mix well and place in oven for 20-25 minutes to roast. (they should get good color)
- Allow a large saute pan to get hot then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan.
- Dredge chicken thighs in flour seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, then place into saute pan, allow to sear to get good color on the thighs for 3-4 minutes
- Add sliced sausage to pan and allow to brown along with chicken thighs.
- Turn over chicken and sausage to allow other side to brown.
- Add mushrooms to pan and allow to saute, while cooking chicken and sausage 4-5 minutes
- Mix together making sure all ingredients are almost finished cooking
- Add chicken broth to pan reduce heat and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add roasted potatoes, artichokes, lemon juice and needles from one rosemary stalk. Season with granulated onion, sea salt and black pepper
- Coat butter with flour, pushing flour into butter and add to the pan, to help thicken the sauce.
- Garnish with remaining rosemary stalk, serve immediately and enjoy!
** this dish can be served over linguine
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed another of my restaurant style meals that you can make in your own home at a fraction of the cost!
This is my “go to” dish whenever I dine out and I’m not fond of the specials for that evening. It’s so comforting and I just love all of the flavor combinations. This dish looks fantastic, thanks for sharing!
there really is a wonderful array of flavors in this dish, thanks for stopping by Carrie!
Great story Dennis and this dish looks like a real keeper – on the try list it goes.
Thanks Larry, it was fun remembering how I learned to make that dish!
I just featured chicken scarpariello a few weeks ago. Your rendition is a bit different than mine but I’ll bet both are divine. Mine doesn’t have potatoes-I leave that for chicken vesuvio. Great story!
Thanks Abbe, I’m sure there are as many versions as here are Italian Grandmothers!
what a great story chef! Love to hear about the old days 🙂 and this looks spectacular! anne
Thanks Anne, it was a very tasty dish!
I love these flavors, and chicken with artichokes is always a winner!
thanks Laura, my wife loves artichokes so any opportunity I have to add them into one of creations makes her very happy.
Lovely dish, chef. I’ve had it many ways but love adding artichokes, delicious idea.
Thanks Deana, I think that’s the beauty of this dish, that it has so many variations!
This is something that we could really love and I know everyone would enjoy hearing this story. You have a great passion for food and I can imagine the chefs were jealous of your ability and there are some things that just cannot be taught. I have an overwhelming amount of potatoes so I will give this a try!
Love your story – that is awesome! This recipe sounds like a great meal. I love combining the thighs and chicken sausage with potatoes. Kind of like a fancy hash…which is a great dish in my book.
Thanks Becki, it really is a very flavorful dish, and its hard to go wrong with all those delicious ingredients!
This was AWESOME!!!!! It is way too funny as I did hear “chicken again?” …. that was when I was making it – – whole different story when I served it. Leftovers tonight (I doubled the recipe) and I am already drooling just thinking about it 🙂 Amazing dish, thanks so much. Love your other recipes too, by the way
hi Deb
I’m glad your family enjoyed the dish it really is a tasty combination! And I’m also very happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying my recipes, its always nice to hear!
Cheers
Dennis
Your website is my go to for trying new recipes. Made this one tonight, added 12 medium shrimp and served it with a side of risotto. It was amazing. Rosemary is tough because if you add too much it absolutely takes over any other flavor. I loved this dish because each bite can you be different. You can throw 3 pieces of potato on the fork one bite, take a bite of Italian sausage and artichoke the next, and a bite of chicken and mushroom the next. Can’t wait to try my (your) next recipe!
Thanks Joe, I’m very happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe and adding shrimp just made it even more delicious!