Wuff really enjoyed his Pasta Puttanesca dish from that office pasta party long ago. While on vacation following Megaplex Con, Vrghr thought he’d try an adaptation of it to share with his roomie  talonsaurn at the AirBnB we were sharing in Kissimmee.

This was a riff on the original Puttanesca Penne, found here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/27115309/

There are some significant differences in the sauce here, since some of the ingredients weren’t available locally, and wuff could use the anchovies as this wasn’t a vegetarian version.

The sauce was fantastic! All the wonderful robust “in-your-face” flavors with a light kick of heat. Wuff intentionally kept that part low, as Talon didn’t like a lot of heat in his dishes.

Vrghr paired that powerful sauce with chicken and served it over linguini, similar to Chicken Parmigiana. It worked VERY well! The chicken makes this a nice, substantial dish and plays well with the sauce.

But this sauce is truly the star here: Powerful flavors, briny olives and capers, lots of garlic, rich tomato, a savory bacon foundation, some wine reduction for acid, anchovy for umami, sweet peppers and onions for complexity, spicy Fresno peppers for heat, and sliced grape tomatoes for little bursts of vine-ripe sweetness.

Don’t neglect those tomatoes when creating this! They really bring a bright, sweet touch that keeps you coming back for another spoonful.

NOTE: Though the chicken supports this dish well, you can really do a great meal with just the sauce and the pasta. Give this one a shot. You won’t regret it!

INGREDIENTS:
8oz (1/2 pack) die-cut linguini
5 strips center cut bacon, chopped
1 med onion, small dice
1 pk (12oz) assorted small sweet peppers, small dice
1 Fresno hot red Pepper, minced (can sub Jalapeno or Serrano chili too)
3 TBS Garlic Paste
3 TBS Tomato Paste
4-6 Small Anchovy Fillets
8 oz sliced Crimini or White Button Mushrooms
1 bottle (16oz) Fire-Roasted Red Peppers
1/3 C Sliced Kalamata Olives
2 TBS Capers
28 oz can peeled San Marzano Tomatoes
½ C Red Wine
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp ground Black Pepper
1 pk (12 oz) Grape or Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (or more to taste)

1.5 lb Boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs
1 TBS Olive Oil
Granulated Garlic, Onion Powder, and Salt & Pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, and parsley or oregano for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Dice the onions and peppers, mince the Fresno (or Jalapeno) pepper, chop the bacon.

In a large skillet over medium low heat, cook the chopped bacon strips until the fat renders and the bacon is just starting to crisp. Don’t let it get too crispy though, or it will make tough little lumps in the sauce.

Remove the cooked bacon to a large sauce pan, but keep the bacon fat in the skillet

Add the diced onions, sweet peppers, and Fresno/Jalapeno pepper to the hot bacon fat and cook until the onions turn translucent and the peppers are tender. Make a space in the center of the veggies and add the tomato paste and anchovy fillets. Allow the paste to caramelize a bit until it is nice and dark on one side but not burnt, then stir into the rest of the veggies. Add the garlic paste and cook until fragrant

Add the mushrooms and stir them around with the rest. Cook until they begin to give up some of their liquids and turn darker

Pour all the cooked veggies into the sauce pot with the bacon. Add the can of San Marzano tomatoes, and crush up the tomatoes into smaller lumps. Stir in the crushed red pepper flakes and ground black pepper

Add the red wine to the skillet and stir it around to deglaze any fond on the bottom of the pan. Let it boil until reduced by 1/2

While the wine is reducing, turn on the heat on under the sauce pan to medium and allow the sauce to come to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Chop up the fire roasted red peppers and add them to the sauce, along with the Kalamata olives and capers. Stir in half the sugar now (taste test it after the tomatoes have simmered to see if it needs the rest. Sweetness will vary with the ingredients.)

When the wine has reduced, stir it into the sauce pan with the tomato sauce. Remove the skillet from the heat for the moment until ready to sear the chicken

Allow everything in the sauce pan to simmer gently for about ½ hour to help remove the “canned” flavor from the tomatoes

Taste the sauce and adjust the sweetness with the remaining sugar and the spices and heat from the peppers as desired. Remember that the heat will build as it continues to cook. Be careful NOT to add any more salt before tasting - - the anchovies and other ingredients may have already salted it enough

While the sauce is simmering, bring about 2-3 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add enough salt (at least 1-2 TBS) to make it “seawater”. Add the linguini when the sauce has just about finished simmering

Adjust the heat under the skillet to medium high and add the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic and onion. When the oil is shimmering, carefully lay the chicken into the hot oil. Allow to sear without moving until it gets some color on one side (3-5 minutes). Don’t move it about as it is searing – let it rest to get nice color. Once it is lightly browned on one side, flip the chicken over and allow to begin searing on the other side. Remember, you’re just searing it, not cooking it through.

After 2 minutes, lower the heat to medium low. Spoon in a couple ladles full of the tomato sauce from the sauce pan into and over the chicken. Move the chicken about to get the sauce under and around it. Add the sliced grape/cherry tomatoes to the pan and cover. Allow to simmer gently until the chicken is done in the middle (150 degrees or about 5-7 minutes). Don’t over-cook it!

Remove the chicken to a holding plate. Check the pasta to be sure it is just barely “al dente” and transfer it into the skillet with the sauce from the chicken. Spoon another ladle or two of sauce with it and finish cooking the pasta with the sauce to soak up some flavors.

Serve the pasta with the skillet sauce and tomato halves into large bowls. Add the chicken on top and ladle over more of the sauce. Garnish with some grated Parmesan and some parsley or a bit of oregano.

!DEVOURE!