1/2 Jar of Cherry peppers with some of their liquid
1 Tbsp of Calabrian chili (depending on how spicy you like it you can lower the amount or increase it)
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbsp of Dried oregano
Water
1/2 Cup or so of AP Flour
Salt
Clean and remove the stems of the mushrooms and cut into quarters. Then slice the peppers and onions into slices. Cut garlic into thin slices as well. Rip off chunks of kale from the rib and let it soak in water to wash until you’re ready to use. Tie together a little bundle of fresh thyme and fresh rosemary.
Then make the secret flavor bomb mixture of Calabrian chili peppers, cherry peppers packed in oil and capers.
Spread the chicken thighs on a large sheet tray and season each side with salt. Then spoon a couple tablespoons of flour at a time in a mesh strainer and use the strainer to dredge the chicken in flour without wasting too much flour.
In a large dutch oven on medium high heat, add some olive oil once it's hot and then begin to add a few pieces of chicken at a time to sear. Let them cook for a few minutes on that side, rotating to make sure it browns evenly and then once it's nicely golden brown, flip the chicken and cook for a few minutes on that other side and then transfer to a bowl while you go through as sear the rest of the pieces of chicken. You can take your time, you wont overcook the chicken but you also don’t want to start burning flour in the pan so if you need to adjust the heat, do so.
Once all the chicken is browned, then add the mushrooms into the hot pan. Season with salt and cook the mushrooms hot and fast, it will suck on that oil so add a bit more if needed and then once the mushrooms start to smell roasted, add in the garlic, more oil if needed and once the garlic starts to get aromatic, add in the onions and peppers. Season with salt and cook until the onions and peppers soften.
Once that happens, add the flavor bomb mixture. And once you add that you will get hit with such an amazing aroma of the cherry peppers and Calabrian chili and already the flavors are coming together.
Then add in the kale, season that with salt, you wanna season at every layer. Let that wilt a bit and then add about two hefty tablespoons of tomato paste. Stir the tomato paste in to get everything incorporated and we want to cook until we start to see caramelization developing on the bottom of the pan. As soon as you see that, deglaze with some white wine and scrape up all those bits off the bottom of the pan. Then add the herb bundle and the bay leaf, then some tomato puree, a jar is fine.
Then fill the jar back up with water and thin out the sauce. It's going to reduce cooking during the process so we want to account for that. Once the sauce is thinned out, add the chicken back into the sauce along with any of those juices that accumulated and then finish with a pinch of some dried oregano, bring the entire mixture up to a boil and by now the potatoes should be nice and crispy and ready to remove from the oven, so take them out, drop the oven down to 425, then add the pot of chicken to the oven uncovered and set a timer for 1 hour 15 minutes. But it will likely need at least an hour and a half. A few times during the cooking, just give it a little stir to rotate the pieces of chicken exposed to the oven heat. Depending on the size of the chicken, smaller pieces might cook faster, bigger pieces might take longer. Usually it takes me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get them butter tender and juicy the way I like it.
Once it's butter, tender and juicy, and the sauce coats the chicken, it's ready to plate. Add a mound of potatoes to the center of a bowl, layer a few pieces of chicken on top, along with a lot of sauce, grated parmigiano and chopped parsley and serve with bread. Enjoy my chicken cacciatore.
