Skillet Chicken With Tomatoes, Pancetta and Mozzarella

I almost never follow recipes exactly, but I happened to with this one. It was outstanding! Thank you!

I agree with the person who said the garlic etc is prone to burn -- need to let the pan cool down a bit after browning chicken.

And I agree with the person who requests that this space be for questions about or actual experience making the recipe. People ranting about calories have a lot of other places they can go rant. Most cooks know how to reduce fat or calories as they choose.

I have made this dish twice, delicious. Changes I made: The second time I added a layer of fresh market greens and sat the chicken on top. When I browned the bacon I also crisped the chicken skin. I slow baked the dish. After 2 hours at 300 degrees, the chicken melted off the fork. The greens were a nice contrast to the red sauce. I also added green olives. I served the dish sprinkled with the bacon and crispy chicken skin and then added daps of goat cheese instead of the bocconcini-Guest worthy

Hi MelissaJane - if the sauce was thin it's probably because you only baked it for 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes, which makes sense for the boneless breasts, but doesn't give the sauce enough time to thicken and reduce properly. Next time cook the sauce a little longer on the stove top before adding the chicken to the pan and baking. Also using diced tomatoes is perfectly fine. Whole tomatoes results in bigger, irregular chucks, which I prefer, but you should use what you like!

Perfect! I used 1/2 tsp of anchovy paste instead of anchovies because I don't keep them in my pantry. Anchovy paste can keep in your refrigerator for a long time when you use very little in recipes like this.

Wow!!! Served it with a plateful of creamy polenta. Outstanding!! Oh no, might have added another 1200 calories. Guess I'll have to make it again next week.

Good Evening: This recipe doesn't just go into the standard repertoire, it goes into the secret-weapon-for-dinner-parties repertoire.

This was a very tasty dish, reminiscent of chicken parm but distinctive to be its own unique dish.

I'm surprised the recipe didn't include at the end of step 5 an instruction to spoon off some fat after the chicken is cooked in the oven. When I removed the dish to top it with the cheese, I skimmed off at least 1/3 cup of fat, which had I left in would have certainly made for a quite greasy meal.

Jim, I've found that people who hate anchovies think of them as whole fillets on pizzas. If you mash them up and mix them into the sauce, as I've done with several other recipes, the "anchovy-haters" don't even realize they're in the meal ... just some indescribable and delicious flavor.

I've made this twice and the second time I made the following amendment, or enhancement actually: sauteed 1/2 onion with bacon (thick sliced), then set it aside, browned the chicken and then added the bacon/onion to the tomatoes and then proceeded as directed. This gave a deep, smokey, bacon flavor to the dish that you wouldn't have just sprinkling pancetta (or bacon) over the dish.

Made this last night and we all loved it, even my sometimes fussy 3yo. I didn't have any anchovies, so a few drops of balsamic vinegar and tamari gave the sauce an umami boost. I used a smaller tin of tomatoes and quartered some fresh plum tomatoes. Used 2lb chicken thighs (boneless, skinless) and seared and oven-cooked it for less time. The cooking time of 45 min is not accurate, the steps add up to 53 min and there is prep time involved as well. Start to finish for me was 1h15min.

Cauliflower 'rice' ('riced cauliflower'?) serves nicely as a sauce-y vehicle, steamed broccoli rabe if you'd like a more assertive supporting cast, and regular broccoli to split the difference. Or: slice green cabbage into noodle-widths, blanch (or nuke) it for a few minutes, drain well and give it a quick hard saute - to develop a few nice brown edges, y'see - in a bit of the oil poured off in Step 3, plus maybe some garlic. Al dente cabbage is mild and delicious.

I didn't expect this dish to be so spectacularly delicious. The tomato sauce was complex and soul satisfying...it could be used on its own over pasta or polenta. The mix of aromatics (anchovies, garlic, hot red peppers) gives the sauce a very different character from other typical Italian sauces. I used boneless/skinless thighs to cut down on calories/fat and they were tender and delicious. Just cook them a little less. Lastly, I added a some chix broth & a TSP of sugar.

I was happy my Wednesday dinner was solved after reading the NYT. I am a long-standing member of the Melissa Clark fan club. Made the recipe, and thought it was good, not great. More of an unbreaded chicken parmigiana than a pizza chicken. That said, it was easy, tasty, and made enough for two dinners. Delicious tomato sauce was even better the second night with more chicken flavor. Thanks for the inspiration. My favorite is Melissa's sheetpan roasted chicken with potatoes and arugula.

To use boneless chicken, I would follow the same procedure but reduce the tomato sauce a little bit more before adding the chicken, then simmer very gently, covered, on top of the stove, before finally putting the pan, uncovered, in the broiler to melt the mozzarella. It's basically ariff on chicken parm.

I substituted 2 tsp anchovy paste for two anchovies - gave a great depth of flavor to the sauce, does not taste anything like anchovies. Used 4 chicken thighs and 4 legs with skin. To reduce fat, left only a small amount of pancetta drippings and did not add olive oil when cooking chicken. Left only about 1 tsp oil in pan at end of Step 3. Great recipe!