TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Pollo con i Peperoni alla RomanaRoman Chicken with Peppers
A Roman summer home-cooking classic: chicken thighs braised with red and yellow peppers, white wine and tomatoes. Adding the peppers partway through preserves their texture. Around their August peak, the dish appears in eating places throughout Rome.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- Chicken thighs, bone-in or bonelessUse skin-on chicken; bones add flavour.1200 g (about 4–6 pieces)
- Red and yellow bell peppersRemove seeds and cut into 2cm strips. Red and yellow give beautiful colour.4 pieces (1 of each)
- Canned whole peeled tomatoesCrush by hand.300 g
- OnionThinly sliced.1 large
- GarlicFinely chopped.2 cloves
- Dry white wine120 ml
- Extra virgin olive oil40 ml
Method
Cut the vegetables
- 1 Deseed 4 peppers and cut into 2cm strips.
- 2 Thinly slice 1 onion.
- 3 Finely chop 2 garlic cloves.
Brown the chicken
- 1 Season 1200g chicken with salt and pepper.
- 2 Heat 40ml olive oil over high heat in a heavy pot; add the chicken skin-side down, cook 5 minutes on the skin and 3 minutes on the other side, then remove.
Ready when
Turn when the skin is deeply browned and remove after 8 minutes total.
Cook the soffritto and deglaze
- 1 Cook the onion in the same pot over medium heat for 6 minutes.
- 2 Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
- 3 Pour in 120ml white wine, scrape the base and reduce by half.
Ready when
Proceed when the wine has reduced by half.
Braise in tomato
- 1 Crush 300g whole peeled tomatoes by hand into the pot and stir.
- 2 Return the chicken skin-side up, cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes.
Ready when
Proceed when the chicken is cooked.
Add and simmer the peppers
- 1 Add the peppers, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Ready when
Proceed when tender but retaining some texture.
Caution
Do not let the peppers collapse completely; retain a little bite.
Adjust with salt and oil
- 1 Adjust the seasoning with salt.
- 2 Plate and finish with a little olive oil.
About this dish
Pollo con peperoni is a Roman summer dish. In August, markets fill with red and yellow peppers brought from Abruzzo and Campania. At this time it reliably appears on trattoria menus. Simple as its ingredients are, it is tied to Romans’ memories of summer.
Browning the chicken before braising is about more than colour. Searing the surface over high heat makes the juices less likely to escape during braising. Deglazing with white wine to dissolve the browned deposits is essential: this fond forms the sauce’s savour.
Adding the peppers in the second half is also important. Cooked from the start, they collapse completely and lose their texture. Added later, they soften while retaining their shape.
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