The Old Man’s Chicken & Spaghetti
Anniversary in Quarantine
I talk about my Croatian father a lot on this blog. Though it is my mother who influenced my obsessive nature, my recipe collecting, my inability to cook anything less than a full pot size meal, and my drive towards baking, my father was the touchstone to my Croatian heritage, any poetic sense of life I still have, the part of me that tears up when touched by art, life, pain, and bittersweet joy.
Though his lunches usually consisted of a piece of fruit, a chunk of bread, and some semi soft cheese, his appetite for our family meals was nothing other than legendary. He would drink from his gallon of red wine that sat at his feet at the kitchen table. He finished the deep silver pot of pasta every single time my mother prepared it.
His favorite red sauce dish was a version of Chicken Cacciatore that my mother made. He called it chicken and spaghetti, or “chicken and ghetti” for short. And it made him happy every single night he ate it.
Croatian Chicken & Spaghetti
My old man’s chicken and spaghetti: 100% a red sauce, a whole chicken, cut up by the market or cut up by you if you have the courage, spaghetti.
The chicken is browned after getting a solid dose of salt, pepper, and flour. The sauce is built upon onion, a bell pepper or a cubanelle if you can find it, garlic, a light white wine, tomato paste, and tomato sauce (better than crushed tomatoes, since, ideally, this sauce should be blended or strained for a silky texture.) A little sliced carrot or a spot of sugar can help sweeten the sauce, in addition. I made a couple other additions of my own, including shaving a little Parmigiano Reggiano into the sauce as it cooks, along with a tiny spot of heavy cream.
A long, slow, bubbly cook of two hours with the chicken cooking inside the sauce is all you need. I made Chicken & Spaghetti this last Monday, March 23rd, during the quarantine times. In a sense, I wish my mom and brother could have been with my boyfriend and me to celebrate the 13th anniversary of my dad’s life, but the freedom to be home with him and not have other responsibilities allowed me to focus on the meal and on my father. I even made my own spaghetti, a treat my father never got to enjoy.
Time Enough At Last
We drank red wine, and toasted to him, and I thought about how much I wish my dad would have met my guy. They would then each fully understand how important they were to me through the other man.
For you, this is a great comfort meal, a unique pasta dish, since pasta dishes tend to be beef and pork centric (not that there’s anything wrong with that…), and, though it feels very much like a Sunday dinner, it’s not time consuming. A very quick and easy prep and boxed spaghetti is fine.
My dad always said you can count the best friends in your life on one hand. Cherish your dads, their lessons, your regrets, your ups and downs, and every delicious pasta meal you share together, or with those you love on this side of life today.
Chicken & Spaghetti
Ingredients
- A whole chicken, cut up (Idiscard the wings, no one since my dad ever eats them. When I cut up a chickenmyself, I use the carcass for stock and another day's recipes)
- Flour to dredge chicken
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
- 2 medium onions,chopped
- 1 cubanelle pepper, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup white wine
- 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 jars or 1 28 oz can tomato puree (or strained tomatoes, or tomato sauce)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- red pepper flakes to taste
- Two bay leaves
- Handful of chopped parsley
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
Instructions
- Cut up the chicken, or pat dryif already cut up for you. Salt and pepper and dredge inflour.
- In a deep pot withheated olive oil on medium-high heat, add the chicken a few parts at a time. Brown the chicken, andlower the heat if it is getting too dark, too fast (about 5-7 minutes a side).Set aside. In the same potwith some additional olive oil, brown the onion on a medium heat for about 10 minutes. Fiveminutes in, add the chopped pepper. Add in the carrot for a couple minutes. Addin the minced garlic (I make a well of olive oil in the middle of the onionmixture and allow the garlic to cook for almost a minute before mixing into therest of the onions and peppers.) Make the heathigher and add in the wine.Scrape the bottom of the pan and loosen the bits from both the chicken and theonions. Once the alcohol has burned off and the wine is half its volume, addthe tomato paste and combine.
- Add the chicken back in and addin the sauce and stock. Once the mix is integrated,season with additional salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano (if you like),and chipped parsley. Mix and toss in two bay leaves until boiling. Allow the sauce to simmer on alow heat, occasionally stirring and moving the chicken around, for oneand a half to two hours. Once slightly cooled and thechicken is taken out, use a hand blender to further puree thesauce to a silky texture, or take the time my mom did and strain the saucethrough a sieve (which isn't as tedious as it looks). Or, if a chunkier sauceis fine with you, skip this step and make the recipe even more of a easy one! Serve with spaghetti (homemadeor not), a little grated parmesan on top (even though my dad didn't:)and, if it is your want, some glasses of red wine and some family stories toboot. It tastes delicious cold or warmed up the next day.
Notes
Tips
- A food processor makes for easier chopping if possible and allows for the sauce texture to be more easily achieved
- The browning of the chicken is key, so don’t rush this step. You want a nice even crust from the flour layer
- You might find your preference if utilizing the last blending step: blender, hand blender, or strainer. Or nothing!