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Rosey

There are a zillion versions of Puttanesca sauce and this is my version. Feel free to play with it to your liking (and what you have in your house at the time) although I want to point out a few things. You are baking this sauce for a while, so you do not want to loose all the strong yummy flavors. I only use half of the olives and parsley in the cooking and I add the rest and the capers at the end so you do not loose the salty, herby punch that cut through this rich sauce.

Also about the fire roasted tomatoes. Now I am on a budget and do now want to waste my money on things that do not need to be wasted on (then can buy good cheese with my left over money) but these fire roasted tomatoes are worth the money and add a layer of flavor to your dish the regular tomatoes will not add. If you have not tried them, give one can a try and see what you think. This dish is basically a braised dish, so it is low (heat) and slow (time). I have made it with boneless, skinless chicken breast. It cooked 40-50 minutes at 350. Be careful not to over cook. Even though I am home all day, I am a morning person and I do what I can in the morning. So I make the sauce, let it cool, put it over the chicken and then all I have to do is in the evening pull out the pan and set it in the oven to bake.

Oh lastly about the olives, my girls love good old pain-jane black olives. Dear hubby and I love the rich calamata olives. So as a compromise I use half and half. So use what you love. Also I use a lot of cappers (I am addicted to capers) again suite to your taste.

Baked Chicken Puttanesca

8 Chicken thighs or legs

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

I can fire roasted tomatoes (pull of skin and roughly chop. Use tomatoes and sauce, throw away skin)

1 cup olives (roughly chopped)

1 TBL red wine vinegar

1/2 cup red wine (or broth)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

cappers to taste

salt and pepper to taste

1 TBL cruched red pepper flakes, if you like heat. We are wimps in my house so I use smoked paprika

In a pan heat a splosh of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté about 10 minutes till tender, add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Then deglaze pan with wine. Pull pan off stove. Add 1/2 chopped olives, 1/2 the chopped parley, vinegar, red pepper or paprika and salt and peppers to taste.

In another pan heat another splosh of olive oil over high heat and brown skin of chicken. Set chicken on a large baking pan with a heavy lid (or wrap it tightly with foil). Cover with sauce and put lid on (or foil). Bake at 325 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Depending on your oven and how cooked you like your chicken. Add rest of olives, parsley and capers to sauce and serve.

I would serve this over orzo pasta and a simple salad with a lemon zest vinaigrette. I think the fresh lemon is always a good foil to anything rich or salty.

Lemon Zest Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil

zest from one lemon

juice of half of lemon

1 tsp. of finly chopped fresh garlic

1 tsp. honey

salt and pepper to taste

This Raisin Bread Pudding would a be a perfect end.

A time frame for this meal, so you will not being cooking it all at once.

Morning :

make sauce and pour over chicken. Set in fridge till ready to bake.

make vinaigrette