Pollo ai peperoni

pollo ai peperoni

Once again I’m “cheating” by using the Italian name for the dish I made last night. It sounds much more chic and sophisticated in Italian (despite the photo which doesn’t really do it justice! The peppers look distinctly pink. Yuk! But I guarantee these are not the true colours. Honest! It must have been the artificial light) . Your attention, English people! Peperoni in Italian doesn’t mean “pepperoni” (which is a horrific spicey, hard sausage I haven’t had the courage to try yet!) but peppers! So the boring English translation of the title would be: chicken with peppers. Anyway, this is a simple, no  fuss, mediterranean dish which is ideal to make when you haven’t got the time to be  messing about in the kitchen (read: nearly always in my case. Busy lives, see? COME ON! Who has the time to be making home made pasta and the likes after a hard day in the office? Or teaching Italian to students, in my case?). It was my good friend Carmelita who suggested this recipe to me. You can vary it by adding olives, for example. I served it with steamed runner beans as I wanted to be patriotic and reproduce the Italian flag on the plate. Ha ha! This is one of those straightforward, but wholesome recipes, where you bang everything in, pop it in the oven and BINGO! You have made a lovely, homey supper. No need for takeaways ladies, even when you are in a hurry!  I’d rather make a soup, to be honest. I don’t know about you but whenever I have a takeaway meal I end up feeling really thirsty and drinking like a proverbial fish for hours  afterwards. I’m talking WATER here, before you start thinking I’m an alcoholic…So you can imagine how much salt there must be in these Chinese, Indian, etc. ready meals. In truth takeaway meals are not popular in Italy, with the exception of pizza, of course! So we are home and dry, so to speak. Literally too as it’s done nothing but rain here for the past few weeks!:-( Anyway, enough chatting (bando alle chiacchiere) and on with the show….

INGREDIENTS

6-8 chicken thighs, skinned (so that it doesn’t get too fatty)

1 large onion (or 2 medium sized), sliced

2-3 red peppers (or use a combination: yellow/orange/green)

20 teeny weeny baby potatoes (if you get bigger ones cut them in half. Or you could parboil them for a little while)

1 tin chopped tomatoes

olive oil (3-4 tablespoons)

dried oregano

salt and pepper (and a bit of chilli if you wish)

METHOD

Well….as previously mentioned bang all the ingredients in an oiled roasting dish. Make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Cook for approx. 35 minutes at 190 degrees. Stir a couple of times during cooking. Ovens vary so it’s important that you check your thighs (well…not yours. The chicken’s I mean! :-)) I think I overcooked mine a teeny bit as I left them in for nearly 45-50 minutes, which was possibly a bit too long as they were a bit on the dry side. Silly me. Still, no harm done. Hubby was happy. Phew! Next time I may add half a glass of white wine and see what happens. And some olives. Work in progress, ladies!

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