POLLO AI PEPERONI

This is a traditional dish from Rome.
In the real recipe you want to sautée the chicken with a couple of cloves of garlic. This time, as you can see from the photo, I tried substituting the garlic with onions, to give the dish an even sweeter taste. Try both ways and decide which you like best.


INGREDIENTS for 5 people

About 3 lbs of cut up chicken (I used just drumsticks this time)
4 fresh and ripe plum tomatoes
1 medium size onion or 2 cloves of garlic
about 4 sliced fresh peppers - yellow and red.
Salt
Hot pepper flakes
Parsley
Extra-virgin olive oil


Start by washing and cleaning the chicken.  Barely cover the bottom of a high skillet with olive oil and sautée the garlic (if you are making the "garlic version") with the chicken and some hot pepper flakes, until all sides become golden/ brown. Splash with white wine and let evaporate. Add the sliced peppers, onions, parsley, tomatoes and salt.

Cover and let cook on medium heat for about one hour, turning each piece of chicken to prevent sticking to the pan.

Accompany this dish with roasted potatoes and a fresh salad.

RAGÙ CON CARNE MACINATA

Ragù is the general word to indicate tomato sauce  made with meat. The type and cuts of meat may change according to the several recipes (beef, pork, and even lamb). For this recipe, I used ground beef, which could also easily be substituted by half beef and half pork.

INGREDIENTS (for a large pot of sauce that will allow to make pasta for about 15 people -I like to make it and freeze it).

3lbs of ground beef meat

3 peeled and washed carrots

3 washed celery stalks

3 medium size onions

2 cans of crushed San Marzano tomatoes

2 cans of tomato purée

One glass of white wine

Olive oil

Half a stick of butter

Salt


Start by chopping up the onions, celery and carrots in a food processor.

Sautée vegetables in melted butter + a splash of olive oil, for about 15 minutes on medium low heat.

Add the ground meat and tear it apart with a fork. Let it brown. Add salt to taste and the glass of wine. Let the wine evaporate on low heat.

Add the crushed tomatoes and stir well. Add the tomato purèe and stir well. Flavor with more salt.
(If, at this point, your sauce is too thick, you may want to add about half a glass of water to thin it out). Bring sauce to a boil on medium high heat and then reduce to low. Let simmer for about two hours.

Serve this sauce on your favorite short pasta, like penne or rigatoni, or on fettuccine all'uovo (egg fettucine) if you prefer long shaped pasta - but NEVER on spaghetti or linguine!!!