Recipe taken from RachaelRay.com
Notes
The heat… it comes from the Italian hot cherry peppers, OBVIOUSLY. 😀 And I now recall using only about 1/3 of the amount of the brine as is recommended. I was attempting to keep the heat level down, yet I still completely forgot about all of that until my memory got jogged. Ahh, aging…
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I used refined olive oil because I’m not a crazy person, nor do I enjoy smoking out my kitchen)
- ¼ pound meaty pancetta or prosciutto di Parma end cuts, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (I used 8 cloves)
- 1 large bunch flat kale, lacinato, or escarole, chopped or sliced (I used kale)
- Salt and pepper
- A little freshly grated nutmeg, about ⅛ teaspoon
- 1 cup chicken stock
- About ⅓ cup sliced Italian cherry peppers, chopped and a few tablespoons of juice (I used maybe 1 tbsn of the juice and it was plenty spicy!)
- One 28-ounce can Italian tomatoes
- 1 rotisserie chicken (skinned!)
- A few leaves of basil, torn (I forgot to serve this with the basil, but it was in the cocktails!)
- 1 pound rigatoni (RIGGIES!)
For the Breadcrumb Topping
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 2 cloves)
- 1 ¼ cups homemade breadcrumbs or panko
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano or 1 tablespoons freshly chopped (I used dried)
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped (I used fresh)
- 1 cup grated Pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano or a combination of the two
Preparation
- Heat a pot of salted water to boil for rigatoni.
- Heat a large deep skillet over medium-high heat, add EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, add pancetta or prosciutto and stir a minute or 2, add garlic and stir a minute, add greens to wilt and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add stock and cherry peppers and brine, bring to a bubble, then stir in tomatoes, break them up, and simmer 20 minutes to break the tomatoes down.
- Meanwhile, remove skin from chicken and pull meat into small pieces. Add basil and chicken to sauce.
- For the breadcrumb topping, in another skillet over medium to medium-high heat, melt butter into oil and add garlic, swirl a minute, then add breadcrumbs, toast to golden. Remove breadcrumbs from heat and toss with herbs and cool, then toss cool crumbs with cheese.
- Cook pasta to 1 minute less than package directions for al dente. Reserve about ¾ cup salty water and drain pasta. Toss rigatoni with chicken and greens and add the water as necessary to keep the pasta moist. Serve the rigatoni in shallow bowls topped with breadcrumb topping.