I love magazines. I always have. I love the shiny pages and pictures, I even love the ads (yup, natural-born American consumer, right here). I collect them, and have a really hard time letting them go. Just ask my mom about the three years’ worth of Sassy magazines she accidentally got rid of when I was away at college. Right now, I have about five years worth of back issues of Bon Appetit, about a year of Food & Wine, the three issues of Gourmet I received before it went belly up, and a handful of random cooking magazines I’ve picked up over the years at airports and bookstores. A lot of people ask me if I ever actually go back and look at all those magazines, and the truth is, I do. I actually have a system, because, well, I’m a dork.
I like to peruse old issues by month. So in September, I’ll go back to all the old September issues I have over the course of the month. I like to look at the recipes I’ve flagged in previous years, to see if they still look appealing. I like to discover new recipes that perhaps in the past didn’t look very delicious at all. I like to re-read old articles to see if my perspective on them has changed, if trends being touted a few years ago held up, if restaurants that were lauded are still open and still beloved. I love my cooking magazines. Of course, if I’m not careful, they might threaten to take over our tiny apartment and start crowding out all the books, so I’ve recently made the decision to only hang onto the last five years of anything I’m currently subscribed to. So all the 2005 Bon Appetits are on their way out. It’s a little hard, I’ll admit, but I’m learning to let go.
Last weekend, I was flipping through the September 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, and I opened it up to the only recipe I flagged last year: Paccheri Pasta with Braised Chicken in Saffron Cream, from Bar La Grassa. It still looked so good, and caught my attention more than anything else in that particular issue. And I decided it deserved its day in the sun. Saffron went on my grocery shopping list, and I was ready to go.
Of course, I decided to make it on a Tuesday night, without really thinking that braising usually takes some time. We had dinner a bit late that night, but it was so worth it. This indulgent dinner made a basic, boring Tuesday a bit more special. And the leftovers made Wednesday pretty nice, too.
Saffron adds such a unique, subtle flavor to anything it’s in. I love cooking with it, when I can afford to. I usually end up buying saffron at Trader Joe’s, where it’s about half the price as anywhere else. I’m not sure if this means that the Trader Joe’s saffron is less potent, or perhaps from a slightly different species of plant. It tastes pretty good to me, though, so I try not to over think it. I love saffron in a cream sauce, and I’ve done a version here before that was a bit simpler, but I think not as flavorful. The chicken broth in this dish is key: If you have it, it would probably be extra awesome to use homemade stock. I didn’t, but I bought a good brand of low-sodium stock, and I think it was pretty darn tasty. I also think this dish is worthy of fresh, well made pasta. Skip the boxed stuff this time, and pick up something special. Any medium-sized shape should do. The original recipe uses paccheri pasta, which is a larger, non-ridged type of rigatoni. I used rigatoni because it looked best at the market.
This is rich, no question, but is so worth it. And I’m awfully glad I kept that magazine around, so I could re-discover something I’d forgotten. Tuesday night definitely deserved this pasta.
Rigatoni with Braised Chicken in Saffron Cream Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit; this recipe takes about 1 1/2 hours, and serves 4
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 chicken thighs (about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds), bone in and skin on
- half a medium yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
- 2 pinches of saffron threads
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
- 1 pound fresh rigatoni (or another smaller shape you like)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- juice from half a lemon
- 1 large pinch of salt
- 1 large pinch of red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper (optional)
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s very hot, add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Let them cook, undisturbed, for about 3 minutes. When they can be moved easily, flip them over and cook for another 3 minutes. The skin should be golden brown. Remove them to a plate and set aside.
Add the chopped onions to the skillet and saute for about 4 or 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and beginning to turn golden brown. You might need to adjust the heat so they don’t burn. Add the minced garlic and saute for another 30 seconds, or until the garlic is very fragrant. Add the wine and the saffron, and bring to a boil. Let the wine boil, and cook down, whisking occasionally, until its reduced to about half the original volume. Then add the chicken thighs back to the skillet. Add the stock, cover the skillet, and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat until the liquid is simmering, and let the chicken cook, covered, for about an hour. Turn the chicken pieces over halfway through cooking. When there is about 10 minutes of cooking time left, put a big pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta while you prepare the rest of the dish.
Once the chicken can easily be pulled off the bone, remove it from the pan and set aside again. Turn the heat up under the chicken skillet so the liquid comes to a fast boil, then add the cream. Whisk together well and let it cook at a fast boil for about 10 minutes, until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon. While its cooking, pull the chicken apart with a fork. Discard the skin and bones, and add the chicken pieces back into the sauce. Drain the pasta and stir it into the sauce, as well. Add the lemon juice, and season to taste with salt, and if you like, with a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper.