Chicken, peppers and mellow garlic
A chicken and pepper dish that retains its Roman inspiration in the ingredients and separate cooking stages. The peppers become a sauce, the garlic a mellow cream; the chicken skin regains its crispness under the grill.
For this recipe I use onion and garlic brought back from Roscoff, from a trip to Brittany.
Method
The chicken
Dry the thighs thoroughly, especially the skin. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Cook in an air fryer at 180 °C for about 12–15 minutes, skin-side up. This is a preliminary cooking stage: the time depends on the size of the pieces, and cooking must continue immediately in the sauce.
Reserve the fat collected in the bottom of the air fryer.
The pepper sauce
Finely slice the onion. Remove the seeds and white ribs from the peppers and cut them into strips.
Soften the onion in a little oil over low heat. Add the tomato paste and cook briefly, stirring. Add the peppers, passata and a little water. Season with salt and cook gently until the peppers are tender.
Reserve a few intact strips for plating. Blend the rest into a smooth sauce. If pieces of skin remain, pass it through a food mill or sieve; this may be unnecessary with thin-skinned peppers.
The mellow garlic
Peel the cloves. Immerse them in boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and repeat twice more, using fresh water each time.
If the cloves are not yet soft, extend the final cooking stage until they crush easily.
Mash the garlic into a cream with a little extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
The final cooking
Pour the pepper sauce into an ovenproof frying pan. If necessary, loosen it with a little hot water: it should be fluid without becoming watery.
Place the thighs in the sauce, skin-side up. The sauce should surround the lower part of the chicken, leaving the skin exposed and clean.
Cover and finish cooking on the hob at the gentlest simmer. Check the sauce and add a little hot water when needed, pouring it around the edge.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove the lid and place briefly under a hot grill until the skin regains colour and crispness. Watch closely during this stage.
Plating
Spread the pepper sauce over the base of the plate. Place the chicken skin-side up and add the reserved pepper strips, reheated.
Finish with small dots of garlic cream, fresh marjoram leaves and a light dusting of white pepper.
Tips
- Roast potatoes. Cut into wedges and dress with the chicken fat reserved from the air fryer, salt and, if needed, a little oil. Roast until golden and serve separately.
- Exposed skin. The sauce should support the chicken without covering it. A shallow pan makes the grill finish easier.
- Condensation. The lid softens the skin: lift it without letting condensation fall onto the chicken. The final grilling dries the skin again.
- Doneness. Check for at least 74 °C at the centre, in the thickest part of the meat without touching the bone.
- Balance. The tomato accompanies the peppers: keep the quantity low enough for their flavour to remain distinct.
Variations
Over the embers, with Catalan inspiration
For the sauce base, use 2 blocky, thick-fleshed bell peppers, 1 unpeeled onion and 2 ripe tomatoes instead of the long peppers, the onion used for sweating and the passata.
Cook the vegetables over embers, turning until the skins are charred and the flesh is tender. The onion takes longer: cook it through to the centre.
Let the peppers rest briefly, covered, then peel and remove the seeds and ribs. Remove the onion skin and burnt outer layers; peel the tomatoes, collecting their juices.
Reserve a few pepper strips for garnish. Cut up the remaining vegetables and cook briefly in a little oil with the teaspoon of tomato paste and ½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika, taking care not to burn it. Add the collected juices and a little water if needed.
Blend, adjust the salt and use this sauce to finish cooking the chicken as in the main recipe.
A nod to escalivada, with the smoky notes of the embers and paprika.
Herbs and flowers
Replace the marjoram with a few small basil leaves or thyme leaves, always fresh and added when plating.
Edible borage flowers can finish the dish at serving time.