Chicken With Peppers

This saucy, brightly hued chicken braise from “Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome's Jewish Kitchen” by Leah Koenig “captures the essence of summer’s bounty” using readily available and inexpensive ingredients, such as bell peppers and chicken thighs.

Ingredients

• 4 medium red, yellow or orange bell peppers, washed and dried
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
• 4 pounds (1.81 kg) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks, excess fat trimmed
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) fine salt, plus more as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or soave
• 1 (14.5-ounce (140 g)) can whole peeled tomatoes (see Substitutions)
• Chopped fresh basil leaves, for serving

Method

1. To roast the peppers, position a rack about 6 inches (15 cm) from the broiling element and preheat the broiler. Arrange the peppers on a large, rimmed baking sheet and broil, turning every 3 to 5 minutes with tongs, until they are blistered all over and collapsing on themselves, 15 to 20 minutes total. (Keep an eye on the peppers, as they can go over the edge in seconds.)
2. Transfer the peppers to a medium bowl, cover with a wide plate, and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes. Remove and discard the skins and seeds, slice the peppers into 1/2-inch (1 cm)-wide strips, and set aside on the cutting board. If not using right away, transfer to a lidded container and refrigerate until needed.
3. To make the chicken, while the peppers are cooling, heat the oil until shimmering in a large Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken dry and season lightly all over with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add the chicken, skin side down, to the pot. Sear, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, 10 to 12 minutes total; transfer the chicken to a plate.
4. Decrease the heat to medium and add a drizzle of oil if the bottom of the pot looks dry. Add half of the roasted peppers, the garlic, and the red pepper flakes, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is tender and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the wine and let cook down by about half, 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, put the tomatoes, with their juices, in the same bowl you used for the peppers and gently break them up into small pieces. Add the tomatoes with their juices to the pot, along with the 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt and a generous amount of black pepper.
6. Nestle the chicken pieces in the sauce, spooning some of it over the top. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender, about 45 minutes.
7. Uncover, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook at a lively simmer, stirring often, until the sauce thickens a bit, about 10 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed.
8. Stir in the remaining pepper strips, taste, and season with more salt, if desired.
9. Serve hot, generously sprinkled with chopped basil.

The peppers can be roasted and refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days in advance.

Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

No time to roast peppers? >> Use a 10 1/2-ounce jar of roasted peppers. No whole canned tomatoes? >> Use diced canned tomatoes.

Source reference

Curation note (AI-assisted defect fix): this recipe is archived from blimacake.com and kept as its own version. Two words were lost in the source text, the peppers’ rest time (the source ran “about” straight into “Remove”) and the word “juices.” During curation an AI web search identified the recipe’s published original, Leah Koenig’s “Chicken with Peppers” (from her cookbook Portico), which reads “cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes” and “add the tomatoes and their juices,” confirming both. The rest time (“about 30 minutes”) and “juices” were restored; nothing else was changed.