I've had a cold, and the weather is complementing it perfectly. So that makes me crave comfort food and pasta normally features on most people's comfort food list.
When we serve pasta in this country it's almost always what the Italians call pastasciutta - boiled, drained and served with a sauce. But if you want to dial the comfort factor up to 11 you can't go better than pasta in brodo - pasta that's served in a broth or soup. This recipe stretches the definition a little but I don't have any Italian relatives to anger so I'm going to risk it.
Chicken, chorizo and pasta in brodo.
You will need:
6 chicken thighs
1 large shallot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 large or 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and coarsely diced
3 large sticks of celery, scrubbed and coarsely diced
150g of diced smoked pancetta (not the thinly sliced stuff, but small lardons)
150g of chorizo, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled, flattened with the blade of knife and coarsely chopped
100g of cavolo nero (or kale), stripped from the stalks, rinsed and chopped into ribbons
1 400g tin of cannelini beans, drained
1 litre of chicken stock
150g of small dried pasta (macaroni or similar)
Olive oil for frying
The stock's important in this recipe so it's worth using the best you can. If you have home-made then this recipe is definitely worthy of it. If not, then this is one of the few times it's worth splashing out on the expensive stuff in the shops.
Heat a large pot or casserole with a splash of oil and then fry the chicken thighs on a high heat until they've got some colour. Light brown and gold are good, black isn't.
Once they're the colour of chicken that you actually want to eat, remove the thighs and set aside. Pour off the fat from the chicken, reduce the heat, add some more olive oil and then add the shallot, carrot and celery. Gently fry for about 20-30 minutes. The veg will become transclucent and the steam released should loosen any bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the pancetta and fry for another ten minutes until the fat starts to render down. Then add the chorizo and garlic and, yes, fry for another ten minutes. You're not trying to brown anything here - just heat up to the point that the flavours are released and start to mingle.
Once it's all looking glossy and smelling of pancetta, garlic and chorizo add the cavolo nero, stir through to combine and then add the stock and beans. Put the chicken back in, season generously with salt and pepper, cover, and simmer gently for 40 minutes.
After 20 minutes cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water and drain. This is, strictly speaking, a crime when cooking pasta in brodo. The pasta should really be cooked in the broth but I have a reason for this which I'll come back to later.
Once the pasta is cooked and the chicken can be easily pulled from the bone it's done. If you're serving it all at once then add the pasta to the main pot, stir through and then ladle into bowls. The chicken should be tender enough to pull apart with a fork and spoon and you're aiming for a bowl of soup/stew with plenty of broth around the meat and veg.
If you're not serving it all at once keep the pasta separate and only combine in the serving bowls. This is why I don't cook the pasta in the broth as, when left overnight, the pasta drinks all the broth and you're left with a pot of flabby pasta the consistency of baby food.
And no-one wants that.
Except possibly babies.
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