Andy Makes Neapolitan Chicken

You know I really- before I die

I don't know if this is

on my bucket list maybe it is

not high but definitely somewhere in there

I just wanna take an electric guitar

I won't be able to--

maybe I'll learn it someday

and just like play it [guitar strumming]

and then just go and take it

and slam it.

[Cameraman] Smash it.

Well then it feels like it needs

to be in front of you

like I can't be by myself 'cause then it's just like ugh.

[upbeat rock music]

Okay today we are making

saucy--

[Cameraman] Saucy that's really swell.

Saucy Chicken Puttanesca

typically you see puttanesca

a sauce that comes from Naples, Italy

from the Campania region of Italy,

paired with spaghetti

but in this case there's no pasta

it's just chicken and the lovely sauce puttanesca.

Okay first up,

I have four whole chicken legs

that's the drumstick and the thigh attached

you could use parts,

which will probably cut the time a little bit

not by half but by a few minutes

I'm just gonna season this with some salt.

Okay. Let's set that aside

I'm gonna wash my hands.

I'm just gonna prep some of the ingredients.

A lot of these you don't need to prep

it's not, uh, too much.

I'm just gonna peel four cloves of garlic.

[Camerawoman] Six

Six cloves of garlic.

Okay, so I'm gonna thinly slice all this garlic.

Do you have the pasta?

[Brad] It's delicious.

What are you making today, here, bud?

Chicken puttanesca. We're just in Italy.

Wh-You were just in Italy?

No, no, no, just like this is just an Italy episode.

[Brad] Oh, close our eyes, we're there?

Yeah, rrrr.

[Brad] I get that.

Have you been to Naples?

[Brad] Have I been to Nap- No.

Have you been to Italy?

[Brad] Yeah, three times.

Well, my grandfathers, they were from Naples.

Oh [Bleep].

We have our chicken seasoned, our garlic sliced.

I'm just gonna pit the olives.

Oop!

These are Castelvetrano olives.

Um, I prefer Castelvetrano olives

only because they have like a mild, buttery flavor to them,

but you could use kind of whatever olive you like.

I think they work better because

I don't wanna go with all of that super salty,

because you already have a lot of salty flavors

between the capers and the anchovies,

and so I like an olive that's a little bit more

on the mild side.

My pitting method is just

some people use the side of a chef's knife,

I just take whatever kind of flat-bottom

bowl or mug and I just kind of smash it down.

And then once all of them are smashed,

I'll just remove the pits.

I like to leave them on, like, the craggly side.

I don't chop them up.

I want kind of like, big meaty fleshy pieces of olives.

Okay.

See, I kind of like them like that.

You know?

[upbeat music]

[Cameraman] Play this in real time.

What? This is like, how, what life is

in Italy.

You're just pitting olives and slicing garlic.

Ciao!

I wish I could speak Italian.

Okay, I'm gonna take like two strips of lemon.

Mmm, yup.

I don't think this is very traditional,

but I like the kind of floral,

cirtusy, fragrance smell you get from the peel.

And then we'll serve it with more lemon wedges.

Okay, we're gonna go for four anchovies.

Okay. We've got all of our stuff,

I'm gonna grab a skillet.

I'm gonna go medium high on here.

Gonna add about two tablespoons of oil.

Uh, not a lot of oil,

only because when you brown the chicken

the skin's gonna render a lot of fat,

so you're gonna have this nice pool of chicken fat

married with the oil.

So you don't need more than two tablespoons.

The oil doesn't need to be roaring hot.

If anything, like, I kind of want it to,

I don't mind putting it when its a little bit cold.

A lot of us do this in the test kitchen

and we just go for the, kinda the cold pan method.

And the skin will start to render the fat.

Skin side down first.

So we'll let this go.

Just starting from cold, it's probably gonna take about

like, I'd say ten to twelve minutes

to get a really nice golden-brown color.

We'll check back.

Okay. So the chicken has browned underneath.

You can see that is getting brown.

I'm just gonna flip them.

You wanna make sure there's some contact

directly on the surface, just so it browns properly.

The other side is probably gonna take only a few minutes

so I would check after three minutes,

and then we'll set it aside

and then cook down the aromatics.

Okay, I'm gonna remove the chicken.

Obviously this is not fully cooked,

but it's gonna go in the oven and finish cooking.

Set that aside.

Now I'm gonna add the garlic and the four anchovies.

I just add the anchovies whole

because they're gonna-

they're gonna break down and get all speckly.

You'll see how the chicken has released a good amount of fat

in addition to the olive oil that we used.

If your chicken releases a lot more fat,

then I would just pour some out,

set it aside, save it for something else.

For this, this seems like a good enough fat.

And I like having a nice pool of fat

'cause that kind of tames all the kind of

salty, briny flavors.

I've tested this recipe quite a few times,

and I found that I only needed to season the chicken,

and the salt from the chicken that was

more than enough to season the entire dish,

because you have the anchovies and the capers and olives.

You'll see that the anchovies have broken down...

and I'm just kind of scraping any kind of brown bits.

I'm not looking to kind of get the garlic crisp

or brown, I just want it to soften.

I love this. So much garlic.

Definitely not a date night dish.

Who cares?

Make it for your self.

I'm gonna now add some red pepper flakes.

I'm going for about half a teaspoon.

I like it a little bit spicy.

We're just gonna heat that in the oil and let it bloom.

And then, I'm gonna add two tablespoons of tomato paste.

I'm gonna stir that around until

really the tomato paste is just split.

Now I'm gonna add 3/4 cup of white wine.

Scraping the bottom.

And I'm gonna cook this until the pan is almost dry.

You'll see you have that nice red color

from the tomato sauce.

And then while this is simmering,

I'll add the olives, the capers, the lemon strips,

bay leaves.

You're just gonna cook this until the wine has reduced

and then we'll add some water

nestling the chicken,

and then transfer in the oven to further cook.

That smells good.

Okay, so the wine has mostly reduced.

I'm just gonna add a cup of water,

bring that to a simmer.

Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.

Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.

Okay.

It's starting to bubble.

I'm gonna just nestle in the chicken.

And add in the juices too.

I'm gonna turn this off,

and I'm gonna transfer to the oven.

We're at 350.

We're gonna let that go.

Those are whole legs,

so it's probably gonna take about

I'd say 35-40 minutes.

I like them really tender.

If it's in parts and you have the drumsticks and thighs

separated, its probably gonna take more,

like 25-30 minutes.

Okay, let's check on our chicken.

That looks good.

So I will say I spooned a little bit of the sauce over,

that's why it stained the skin a little bit.

Chicken legs are really hard to plate

'cause it always looks like it's like dancing legs.

This sauce is thick and it has a really nice

silky texture that wants to cling onto the chicken.

I have not tasted this sauce,

but I feel like I can assure you that it's

nice and seasoned, and it's unnecessary to add any...

Additional salt.

Mm. So good.

I like serving it with some lemon.

I like serving it with lemon,

bit I also like a little bit of drizzle

of fresh oil.

I don't know, I feel like this sauce is so

kind of concentrated and cooked

that I want like some kind of zippy,

citrus and some grassy olive oil to bring it back to life.

Sohla, do you want to try this?

[Sohla] Sure!

I'm not asking you, Sohla.

You know what was funny?

What?

At home, right before you did this-

Your husband-

Made chicken puttanesca.

And you have said that your husband-

You guys are connected.

We're connected.

Mhm. So tell me about your chicken.

Uh, I browned it and then set that aside

and then cooked down the aromatics.

So just like garlic, anchovies,

a very kind of classic puttanesca.

Uh, capers, olives, wine.

A little bit of water to make it more saucy,

and then I like to finish it with

some more olive oil on top

and then lemon wedges.

I really like this because you can

puttanesca anything.

Yes, you can puttanesca anything.

You really can.

That's tasty.

Can I lemon you?

How long are we supposed to stay here and eat?

I don't know. As long as they tell us to.

Where's the bread?

We'll get some. I don't know. We'll figure it out.