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This is a highly moorish dish. Spicy chicken, caramelised onions and that staple of addictive foodstuffs - pasta - it’s certainly a good start. But what really makes this dish is how you douse the pasta in chicken stock; when baked, the pasta underneath absorbs the sumptuous stock whilst the top crispens up in a tantalising manner. Fettuccine is ideal for this as the ends will stick out of the stock and provide the joyous texture contrasts that this dish desires -and deserves. The green pepper adds a needed bitter tone that helps to cut through the richness of the stock and spicy chicken. I tend to finish this off with a heavy downpour of fresh torn basil - the freshness and fragrance of this touch will transform the end product. I originally saw the basis for this recipe in ones of Rick Stein's fantastic books - whilst it was not on his Venice to Istanbul programme, this dish jumped out at me and I had been enjoying it long before my own escapades in Albania. Albania doesn't have too many chicken dishes, it's very much lamb country, nonetheless they don't need many when you have one as enjoyable as this! For those of you who are not indoctrinated with Albanian cuisine, it's a marvellous mix of Balkan, Greek and Italian influences; although it certainly has its own style as a result. Pasta is very common in Albania and 'Italian' influenced food in Albania is of exceptional quality. The use of pasta (such as here) is fairly common in Albanian food. As you may have guessed, I thoroughly enjoyed my travails in Albania and the food was a key part of that. If you’ve been looking for a new pasta dish then this homely Albanian staple is just what you’re looking for! It feels familiar in its ingredients, but it's an unusual take. The word ‘Yufka’ comes from a type of Turkish flatbread. If you’ve been watching Nigel Slater’s latest food program you will get a glimpse of these tantalising traditional Turkish breads - piles of the crispy disks stacked up - Nigel marvels at this in impressed bemusement; typical of his enigmatic style. The name for this pasta dish comes from the historical Ottoman influence on Albania. Despite the name, there is no flatbread in this dish but the pieces of crispy baked pasta resembles the shards of its namesake. Go ahead and give this a go.
Serves 4 Prep time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
4 Chicken thighs
Tagliatelle or Fettuccine - 200 g
3 onions - sliced into strips
3 Garlic cloves
2 Green Peppers
Passata - 50ml
Cream - 50ml
Chicken Stock - 300ml
Lemon - zest and juice of half a lemon
Oregano - 2 teaspoons
Cayenne pepper - 1 teaspoon
Smoked paprika - 1 teaspoon
Basil (or sage) - a generous handful
Method: 1). Place the chicken in the roasting tin with 2 whole garlic cloves (still in their skins so they roast and steam) and a generous glug of olive oil. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Cook the chicken pieces in the oven at 200 degrees for around 25-30 minutes. Remove and allow to rest before tearing into small strips.
2). Meanwhile, fry off the onion and remaining garlic and cook slowly so that they go soft and sweet; adding a splash of wine to help soften if necessary.
3). Add the green pepper near the end so it small has some crunch at the end of cooking. The green pepper really helps gives a bitter touch to this fairly rich and spicy dish.
4). Cook the pasta al dente in salted water and remove when cooked, placing the pasta at the bottom of the roasting tin with the spicy chicken juices.
5). Add the onion/garlic/peppers mixture to the pasta in the tin with a dash of passata and cream. Mix well and stir in the chicken pieces before pouring the stock over the mixture.
6). Bake for 10 minutes before finishing under the grill to get a crunch - you can simply put this in a very hot oven but a grill is ideal.
7). Serve with basil leaves and some black pepper.