ITS ITALIAN TONIGHT........an easy delicious chicken dish

Welcome to you!!   The heat is on along with out tropical thunder/rain storms, this weather is very unpredictable. Today I would like to share a delicious Italian recipe that my great gram from Italy made for me as a child. One thing is that my Italian grams never measured anything it was always a pinch of this and a pinch of that. So that's just how were going to run this dish.


I call it Italiano Pollo. Which is Italian Chicken. This is super easy, company friendly your mother-in-law will be jealous . And the best part is you can use your fresh basil from your garden! So this is what you will need to make this dish:

Chicken legs or thighs
one or 2 cans of tomatoes sauce                           

      1 pkg of mushrooms
an onion
fresh basil, parsley
spices, Italian spice, garlic
Olive oil, very important
A good loaf of Italian Bread
A great bottle of red wine
A good big pan for sautéing
a box of bowtie pasta
about 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas , The peas and pasta are for your side dish.


So first wash your chicken well ,dry a bit with paper towel, heat the large pan with some olive oil add chicken slowly....season and brown on all sides.  When chicken is brown remove set aside and sauté half of the onion and mushrooms, I don't chop them I use them whole. Once the mushrooms and onion is browned add chicken back in the pan ........add a huge handful of basil, parsley , Italian spice, garlic sprinkle well . Then open the sauce and pour over put on medium low and simmer covered for about 30 minutes or so until chicken cooked through...time will be according to how big your chicken pieces are. Do Not use skinless or boneless white chicken breast because so much of the flavor comes from the skin... and back then they didn't count calories and we shouldn't  either for this dish.

 
Now that you have covered the chicken start on the side dish, boil a big pot of water, add bowties and peas cook until tender. 

Once the pasta and peas are done strain and return back to the hot pot. Add a nice splash of olive oil a generous sprinkle of garlic, grated cheese, kosher salt , pepper , parsley and toss. Time to serve! It smells wonderful in here don't you think?

Mangoes are in season here so fresh fruit for desert!  If you have never had a mango you must.

 

Bon   appetite!!!!

Lisa