Mosaic Monday! Chicken Scarpariello (Chicken in the Shoemaker Style!

Joining Mary at the Little Red House for another fun Mosaic Monday! Stop by to see all the Mosaics this week! I like the look of the canvas panels! So I made another one at Big Huge Labs using the Framer, then clicking on Canvas Panels!

Lots of different ways to make Chicken Scarpariello, as many ways to spell Scarpariello, it seems! There is a bit of history on the dish at the website, Almost Italian, if you're at all interested.

If it's on the menu, I'm ordering it, it's one of my favorite dishes. Scarpariello. Chicken in the Shoemaker Style. What does that mean?  The Shoemaker must have a lot of styles because it's never exactly the same wherever I go. Some restaurants use potatoes, some not, some sausage, some not. Always cut up pieces of chicken. Been to one place that also throws in some filet mignon and cooks the whole thing tableside. That was an OMG dish!

I found this recipe a long time ago and it had everything in it that I love. Country Style. Some places manage to keep the chicken really crispy, I haven't managed that all too often, most likely I'm in too big a rush and feeding too many at one time and I end up crowding the pan! It's best when you cut the pieces very small. Add as many cherry peppers as you like, you can leave them out but they add some really good flavor to the dish!

Not a pretty dish, so obviously it's not like a fashionable shoe shoe-maker chicken, more like a comfort shoe shoe-maker chicken dish! I took the skin off and crisped the chicken in the pan, so it would be a little less fat, maybe that make's it an athletic shoe-maker chicken?

Chicken Scarpariello (Country Style)
Source: adapted from a recipe at McCalls magazine, January 1990
Printable Recipe

sliced hot cherry peppers from a jar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 red or yellow bell pepper (julienne)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 1/2 lb chicken, cut in very small serving pieces
1 lb Italian sausage links (sweet or hot or both), cut in 1-inch pieces
1 onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
juice of a fresh lemon (you can also use red wine vinegar)
fresh lemon zest
2 potatoes (small dice) steamed for about ten minutes in microwave first!
3/4 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced

In a skillet, heat oil. Add chicken and sausage in batches; brown on all sides, removing pieces to a plate as they brown. Discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pan. To hot drippings in pan add mushrooms, peppers, onion, potatoes and remaining garlic; saute until tender. Return chicken and sausage to skillet. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, the rosemary, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, the broth and wine. Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer, covered, until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove from skillet; arrange on warm serving platter and spoon sauce on top.

Serve with a crusty bread to sop up the sauce!

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