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I’ve been wanting to reapproach my Italian chicken braises with my most recent fascination with Southern Italy. My first chicken braise came from a Giada De Laurentis recipe you may have heard of, chicken cacciatore. It was pretty amazing how good of a cook I felt after making this dish. Effortlessly delicious. I wanted to recreate that feeling for others, perhaps trying this recipe out. Inspired by a recipe for braising chicken and salami, I figured I’d incorporate more of a puttanesca taste with olives, wine, and parsley, then incorporate some spicy flavors including Calabrian chilis and cinnamon. All you need to finish this dish with is a nice loaf of bread to soak up all that delicious sauce.

Like any great braise, you start with the fat and in this case, we’re using olive oil and prosciutto. Let the prosciutto get deeply red and golden, then remove it to a paper towel to let it get extra crispy. We will be sprinkling this on top of the final dish. Sear your chicken in the fat and get it as golden as possible before adding the onions and garlic. Cook your chicken in the stew until it starts to fall apart. Using dark meat here prevents your chicken from overcooking.

Sicilian cooking is inspired not only by the traditional homeland of Italian staples and the Mediterranean but also by North Africa. I wanted to pay homage to staple North African flavors with cinnamon and raisins as this stew would go great paired with couscous or rice even. Sicily is a completely different food region than what we know the rest of the country as.

This stew tastes great as a whole, but I designed the recipe to have a bit of an optional training wheel. If you don’t like spicy, serve the Calabrian chili on the side.