Chicken Riggies

Must be something in the water over there in Utica. Although it's a small city of only 60,000, I have discovered three amazing dishes that were invented there and are quickly earning a name for themselves outside of Central New York. The first I encountered was Utica Greens - escarole baked with three types of julienned hot peppers, prosciutto, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Perfect side dish to a tender veal roast. Another Utica-born favorite is Tomato Pie. Picture a thick crust square pizza, very thick and chunky tomato sauce, and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese (no mozzarella), served room temperature. You can't possibly imagine why it's so good until you try it.

Better than both of these, however, is the lovely Chicken Riggies. Any self-respecting Central NY restaurant has it on their menu, and everyone from the region has their own version. Essentially, it's chicken in a hot pepper tomato cream sauce over rigatoni (hence, the "riggies"). Being someone that LOVES tomato cream sauces, it's no wonder I quickly fell in love. I don't normally like food that's too spicy, but the cream tames it a bit, and it's very easy to alter to your level of heat tolerance by how many and which type of peppers you use.

Source
Adapted from AllRecipes (doubled)

Yield 
2 lbs. of macaroni. There was actually a lot of sauce left over after we dressed the rigatoni, but that was probably because of the extra can of tomatoes I added, so this recipe should serve 8 to 10 people.

Equipment
2 large pots
Large skillet
Knife and cutting board


Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Rigatoni - of course you can use any type of macaroni, but "Chicken Spaghettis" or "Chicken Elbows" just don't have the same ring as "Chicken Riggies" 
• 1/4 cup Olive oil
• 2 tbsp. Butter
• 1/4 cup Dry Vermouth (optional)
• 3 lbs. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• To taste, Salt and Pepper
• 4 Shallots, diced - original recipe calls for 2 onions, but I prefer the savoriness that shallots give. Of course if you have onions around, use those rather than going to the store
• 6 cloves Garlic, minced
• 4 Hot Cherry Peppers - this is for the hottest layer in the dish. I've used both fresh and jarred and haven't noticed a difference. Warning - wear gloves while chopping hot cherry peppers! I always forget this, and for a couple of days my fingers burn, as do my eyes when I forget and end up touching them :/
• 4 Cubanelle Peppers - for medium heat. I actually have never used cubanelles, as I've never been able to find them, no matter where I look. I always end up substituting with Anaheim peppers instead, which I believe are comparable. Basically you want something with just a little bit of heat, but an Italian heat, not a Mexican heat like a jalapeño.
• 6 Roasted Red Peppers for a sweetness to balance out the hot peppers
• 2 28-oz cans Crushed tomatoes - I ended up adding a third can, since I don't really like the sauce too hot
• 1 cup Heavy cream - I added another half a cup since I added more tomatoes
• 1 cup Grated Parmesan

This is a good dish for having company, since you can make the sauce ahead of time and just put the water on for the rigatoni once your guests get there. If you're serving it right away, however, you should put the pasta on first, as making the sauce actually goes pretty quickly once all the prep work is done (oy, chopping..).

Chop shallots (or onions, if that's what your'e using)  

Mince the garlic.

Remove the seeds from the Anaheim or Cubanelle peppers. The best way to do this is to chop the ends off, cut it in half lengthwise, and scoop the seeds and veins out.

Sorry, blurry picture :(  I wouldn't have included it but I wanted to give an idea of what they look like when they're halved and seeded.


Slice the peppers very finely.

Drain and chop the roasted red peppers

De-seed the hot cherry peppers - again GLOVES! Really, you'll thank me.

I tried a few ways of doing it but the most effective way I found was to chop the top off

and scoop out the insides with a small spoon.

Now you're left with a hollow pepper that's much easier to chop.

 

Salt and pepper the chicken well. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet heat up the olive oil and add the diced chicken. Honestly, this was way too much chicken for the sauté pan. If you're going to do the full recipe, i.e., not halve it, then you should only put half of the chicken in at a time, otherwise it steams instead of sautéeing, which isn't the flavor you want.

Sauté until fully cooked

then drain and set aside in a separate bowl, keeping it warm. 


In the same pan (drained), melt the butter, and sauté the Anaheim peppers, garlic and shallots with the vermouth

until the peppers are pretty soft.

 Add in the hot cherry peppers and roasted red peppers and sauté another few minutes

until they're soft and all the flavors are melding together.

 Unless you have a big enough skillet, which I didn't, you'll need to move it to a large pot before adding in the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a simmer.

Add the chicken

and the heavy cream and stir.

The cream will probably cool it down a bit, so simmer a bit longer.

Just before serving add in the Parmesan cheese.

 Now you'll never hear me say this again, and I can't even believe I'm saying it now, but I actually think this dish didn't need the Parmesan cheese at all. Blasphemy, I know. But between the cream and the peppers, the sauce was perfect and the cheese was just superfluous. I honestly think I'll leave it out next time.

Serve over the pasta and enjoy!