Chicken Scarpariello - Italian Sweet & Sour Chicken Thighs With Sausage & Peppers

Chicken Scarpariello is a delicious Italian-American sweet and sour chicken thigh dish featuring Italian sausage and peppers in a delicious sauce! Join Eric from Simply Elegant Home Cooking as he demonstrates his take on this classic dish that is sure to impress your friends and family! There are several very important elements to the dish! Firstly, you want to make sure that you get a great sear on your chicken thighs so that they have crispy skin. This is achieved by using a very hot pan and be allowing the chicken to sear without touching or flipping the thighs until they are nicely browned. Also, be sure to use the highest ingredients in your sauce, including home made chicken stock and a dry Italian white wine that is of high enough quality to drink! Also, you will want to be sure to test the sauce for flavor before transferring your pan to the oven. You want to make sure that the blend of sweet and sour is to your liking and can adjust by adding more sugar or white wine vinegar.

Ingredients:
-8 chicken thighs
-4 links Italian sausage (sweet or hot)
-12 peppadew peppers (or any other type of pickled pepper)
-1 medium yellow onion
-1 red bell pepper
-5 cloves garlic
-1 tablespoon neutral flavored oil
-10 fresh sage leaves
-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
-1 cup dry Italian white wine
-1 cup homemade chicken stock
-1/4 cup Tuscan Italian white wine vinegar (or substitute with the peppadew pepper pickling liquid)
-1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
-2 tablespoons sugar
-Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Remove chicken thighs from the fridge 45 minutes before cooking. Pat them dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper.
-In a large pan, sear the chicken thighs on medium high for 8-10 minutes on the skin side until deeply browned, then flip and sear the underside for another 3-4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
-Add in the sausage links and sear them on medium heat until both sides are browned. Sausage will not be cooked through in this step but that is OK!
-Remove sausage from the pan, remove excess oil leaving only about 3 tablespoons (there will be a LOT of oil from the chicken and sausage). Turn heat back up to medium high and add in the sliced onion and sliced red bell peppers. Add more salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes until some browning is achieved, stirring every minute.
-Once onions and peppers are slightly browned, add in the sliced peppadew peppers, the sliced garlic, and the sage leaves, minced. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-Deglaze the pan by adding the dry Italian white wine. Turn the heat back up to medium high. The sauce should be at a rolling simmer and should be cooked until the liquid volume decreases by about half.
-Once wine is reduced by half, add in the homemade chicken stock and allow the sauce to come back up to a rolling simmer, another 3-4 minutes.
-Once the sauce is simmering again, add in the Tuscan Italian white wine vinegar.
-Add in the fresh rosemary, crushed red pepper flakes, and sugar and stir to incorporate. At this point the chicken scarpariello sauce should be taste tested. You can adjust the amount of sugar and vinegar to balance out the sweet and sour elements to your liking.
-Allow the sauce to simmer for a few more minutes. During this time you can cut up the Italian sausage links into about 4 pieces per link.
-Add back in the sausage pieces, then on top of them add in the chicken thighs with their skin side up. You want to make sure the chicken skin stays dry to remain crispy.
-Place the entire pan into a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the sauce has thicken up and chicken and sausage are fully cooked through.
-Serve your chicken scarpariello and enjoy!