Pollo Puttanesca (pollo alla puttanesca in Italian) or Naughty chicken, is a delicious main course quite simple to prepare, all you need are the ingredients typical of a puttanesca tomato sauce and a good chicken, I prefer thighs and upper thighs, but wings will also do the trick.
So let’s get started and make sure you have plenty Italian bread to mop up all of that delicious sauce you will have on your plate, “scarpetta” mode on đ
Pollo Puttanesca, Ingredients:
- 1.5 Kg whole chicken cut into pieces (or just thighs or wings)
- extra virgin olive oil to taste.
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 1 handful of black olives or a mix of green and black)
- a dozen of capers
- 1 bay leaf
- a couple of cloves
- 1 clove of garlic
- 300 ml of tomato sauce or a can of Chopped tomatoes
- Vegetable stock if needed
To prepare the chicken alla puttanesca, you must first cut the chicken into pieces (if you have a whole chicken), wash it and pat it dry it with paper towels.
In a large saucepan (I use a cast-iron pan) heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and herbs, capers and olives. Arrange the chicken with the skin side down into the oil and seal and brown well, add the passata, give it a mix and cook at a low heat with a lid on. The chicken should release its juices, it this is not the case, you can add some stock.
If you want to make a lighter version of this dish, heat the pan and lay the chicken skin side down, “roast” for a few minutes and add all the other ingredients and continue cooking. Remove the skin before serving.
Cover the pan and cook over a moderate flame for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Should it require more cooking time to reduce the sauce, remove the lid and increase the heat, but be careful not to burn it!
When cooked add salt if needed and serve the Pollo Puttanesca piping hot, accompanied with a side of small new potatoes boiled and pan fried with butter, garlic and parsley or with a side of peas and ham.
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