Sautéed Chicken Pipérade: chicken breasts with green and red bell peppers in a tomato sauce, serve over egg noodles.
Sautéed Chicken Pipérade
Cuisine: Basque12
servings25
minutes3
hoursIngredients
- For the pipérade
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 large green bell pepper, sliced
1 large red bell pepper, sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, mashed
Salt and pepper
Pinch of mixed dried herbs
- For the chicken
1½ packages (18 oz. total) large egg noodles
4 Tbs butter, divided
Salt
Tarragon, to taste
4½ lbs. chicken breasts
1 Tbs safflower oil
Pepper
Tarragon
- For the deglazing sauce:
1 small shallot, minced
½ cup chicken stock
½ cup dry white wine
1-2 Tbs butter
- For finishing up:
1 large can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
2 heaping Tbs tomato paste
Salt and pepper
1 Tbs olive oil (optional)
2 tsp paprika, or to taste (optional)
1 Tbs brown sugar, or to taste (optional)
2 Tbs minced parsley
Directions
- Make the pipérade.
- In a large (10-inch), pre-heated frying pan over moderately-low heat, briefly heat the oil and then sauté the onion until tender and translucent, stirring occasionally, 6½ minutes. Add the peppers, garlic, and a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and herbs. Sauté uncovered, tossing several times, until the peppers are nearly tender, 3 minutes. Check seasoning. Remove from heat.
- Make the pasta:
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, but 1-2 minutes shy of minimum cooking time. Strain, saving the liquid. Toss with 2 Tbs butter, salt (lots), taragon, and a couple healthy splashes of the pasta cooking water, and keep warm.
- Make the chicken.
- Prepare a cooking probe to desired chicken temperature. (For me, that’s 150°F, but don’t take food safety advice from me.) Set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
- If the breasts are too large to be single-serving, halve them. Dry them thoroughly between paper towels. Set a very large (14-inch diameter), deep (2½-inch) frying pan over high heat. Once hot, add the oil and remaining 2 Tbs butter. Once melted but not smoking, add the chicken without letting any of the breasts touch one another. (You may have to do this in batches to make that possible.) Turn on the stovetop vent. Once the chicken has browned to your liking (perhaps 4 minutes), flip it, dust with salt, pepper, and tarragon, pop it into the oven, and take it out when it comes to temperature.
- Deglaze.
- Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest on a plate. Add the shallot to the pan and cook over high heat, stirring, 1 minute. Pour in the stock and wine and boil, raise heat to highest setting, and deglaze pan as you go. Continue boiling until the liquid is almost syrupy, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl in butter.
- Finish up.
- Pour the tomaoes and plop the tomato paste into the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderately low heat for a few minutes. (Add the paprika and sugar.) Boil the sauce over very high heat until it’s thicker than you’d prefer, tasting it several times along the way to correct seasoning. (Adding olive oil can help thicken the sauce.) Add the chicken back to the pan, cover with the pipérade, place the cover back on the pan, and heat through (which should loosen the sauce up – if it doesn’t, add a splash of pasta cooking water).
- Garnish with parsley. Serve with pasta.
Notes
- Substitutions: 1 lb. penne, fusilli, farfalle, or rigatoni for the egg noodles. Thyme for the tarragon. Another neutral oil with a high smoke point for the safflower. Green onions for the shallot. French vermouth for the white wine. Chives or tarragon for the parsley.
Social Learning
The pipérade will max out the pan I’ve called for, but it’ll work.
For the pipérade herbs, use any herbs mentioned in the recipe or substitution list.
You can cook the full two bags of noodles if you like, and wind up with much heftier servings. If, when the time comes, the noodles need to be re-heated, hit them with another large splash of the cooking water as you toss them over low heat.
150°F might seem like a low temperature for the chicken, but its temp will rise as it rests, and you’ll be reheating it in the sauce at the end.
The paprika and sugar make the sauce more complex, but I like it without them just as much.
The Backstory
This is another “The Way to Cook” recipe, so it’s part Julia Child’s, part mine. You have to love peppers if you’re going to love this. It’s not fancy, but it is delicious.
Sautéed Chicken Pipérade
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, ⌘+C. References: “Sautéed Chicken Pipérade” in The Way to Cook, by Julia Child. (New York: Knopf, 1999) p. 90. Also “Sautéed Chicken,” pg. 137-138. And furthermore: Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #15 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
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