Description
Chicken riggies is an Italian American pasta dish made with roasted peppers, hot cherry peppers, some cream and butter. It is very good!
Ingredients
Marinara Sauce:
2 T olive oil
4 smashed and chopped garlic cloves
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can whole San Marzano tomatoes
1/2 c sherry cooking wine mixed with one cup of water
4 T butter
8 basil leaves
1/2 t coarse salt
1 c finely grated Pecorino Romano plus more for serving
1/4 c heavy cream plus more if you want a thinner sauce
Chicken Mixture:
2 T of extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs chicken breast cut into medium chunks
2 large roasted red peppers (from the jar, sliced into 1″ pieces) Using more does not hurt!
1 jar of hot cherry peppers roughly chopped, about 7 – 8 or a 16 oz jar
1 smashed and minced garlic clove
6 standard slices spicy Calabrese salami or pepperoni (optional)
1 T pepperoncini (optional)
1 lb rigatoni, cooked al dente according to package directions
Instructions
Prepare the tomato sauce:
In a large pot heat 4 smashed and chopped garlic cloves with 2 T of extra virgin olive oil on low heat. Do not brown the garlic as it will taste bitter. Add the whole tomatoes and squeeze them with your hands while adding. Stir in diced tomatoes. Add sherry mixed with water. Simmer for a few minutes.
Add the butter, basil and coarse salt. Simmer on low heat while sauteing the chicken.
Start the water for the rigatoni while sauteing chicken.
Prepare the chicken mixture:
In a large skillet saute the chicken chunks in 2 T of olive oil. When the chicken is almost browned, stir in the roasted red peppers, hot cherry peppers, one minced garlic clove, salami and pepperoncini and saute a few more minutes to blend.
Now stir the Pecorino Romano cheese and the heavy cream into the tomato sauce. Do not stir it in earlier as the cheese has a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot. If your sauce is chunky and you prefer it more smooth, feel free to use a potato masher or an immersion blender to get the sauce to the consistency you prefer. Personally, I like the tomato chunks for flavor and texture.
Combine the chicken mixture with the tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. while preparing rigatoni.
According to package directions, cook rigatoni al dente.
Drain and stir rigatoni into the sauce. Serve with additional grated cheese and red pepper flakes.
Notes
Chicken Riggies can also be placed in a casserole dish, topped with mozzarella, and baked or the top broiled for a few minutes, until the cheese melts. OR, stir in chunks of fresh mozzarella before serving.
This also reheats quite nicely in a casserole dish topped with cheese.
Feel free to add more sauce and grated cheese on the side along with some red pepper flakes for sprinkling.
