Every so often Chris gives me a cooking "challenge". I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago so I have some spare time and have been doing some cooking. He saw this dish on one of the Beat Bobby Flay episodes on Food Network and thought it would be something we would both like. I scoured the internet to find a recipe I liked and was close to what he saw on the show. I could have gone straight to foodnetwork.com but I rarely do things the easy way.
This recipe came from a website called Serious Eats. I made a few tweaks along the way and will note them in the recipe. I also completely forgot to take any photos so I guess I will have to make it again!
2 1/2lbs. bone in skin on chicken thighs (6 to 8 thighs)-->I used 2 large chicken breasts, each piece cut into 3 smaller pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 to 4 links sweet or hot Italian sausage--> I used sweet
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 larged red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. finely minced fresh sage leaves-->use fresh, the aroma is amazing!
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced-->did I mention the aroma?
8 hot or sweet pickled cherry peppers, thinly sliced along with 1/4 C. of the pickling liquid from the jar-->I used sweet here too.
1 C. dry white wine-->all I had was Prosecco, so in it went!
1 C. homemade or store bought low sodium chicken stock
2 tbsp. sugar
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering. Add chicken skin side down, and cook without moving until well browned and crisp. I browned the chicken breasts until they were golden; about 8 minutes total, lowering the heat if pan starts to smoke. Flip chicken and brown lightly on second side, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a large plate and set aside.
Return skillet to heat without draining it and add sausage. Cook until well browned on the first side, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip sausage and cook on second side until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes longer. I cut the sausage on the bias into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces when it was done.
Return pan to heat, add onion and bell pepper and cook stirring and scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon until veggies are softened and starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Add sage and garlic, stir to combine, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add pickled cherry peppers and their liquid stirring and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Add wine and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and sugar, and stir to combine. Return sausage to pan, toss to combine then return chicken pieces to pan skin side up unless you are using boneless/skinless; nestling them down among sauce vegetables and sausage.
Transfer to oven and cook until chicken is done; about 30 minutes. Serve immediately, spooning sauce, vegetables and sausage around chicken pieces. I served this with roasted potatoes.
