{"id":7931,"date":"2021-10-08T16:13:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T23:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=7931"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:36","slug":"pollo-allo-scarpariello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/08\/pollo-allo-scarpariello\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollo allo Scarpariello (Chicken Shoemaker Style)"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 8, 2021<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unappetizing pictures!<\/p>\n

Sometimes really delicious food makes unappetizing pictures.<\/p>\n

Take Chicken Scarpariello, for example.\u00a0 By the time the chicken is unctuous, the potatoes creamy, and the sauce tangy the dish is unappetizingly brown (at least in a photograph).\u00a0 I discovered this when looking at the photographs I had taken for this blog post.<\/p>\n

This is really a shame because the taste is superb.<\/p>\n

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We’re several weeks into planting our new vegetable beds but these herbs have been going strong since March 2021. They were cut back drastically last week to encourage growth.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brown food can be challenging to photograph, especially brown food in a brown sauce.\u00a0 Food stylists might solve this problem by using barely cooked potatoes that look pale and peppers that are still yellow and green, not really cooked as required by the dish.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t represent reality.\u00a0 The dish, cooked properly, will never look like the photograph.\u00a0 This is an approach that I think is inherently unfair.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m willing to admit that some of the problem relates to my picture-taking ability.\u00a0 My photographic ability isn\u2019t great but even that meager ability sometimes suffers because I\u2019m hastily taking photographs as I\u2019m trying to put the food on the table.<\/p>\n

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If I weren\u2019t doing that, I could carefully plate a piece of chicken with the potatoes and peppers artfully arranged off to the side, lots of white space on the plate, and a few colorful garnishes or side dishes.\u00a0 I could even wipe a little of the sauce off of the potatoes to make them lighter in color.\u00a0 All this would mitigate the \u201cbrown problem\u201d but it just isn\u2019t practical because the food I post on the blog is something that I actually made to eat at the moment it is ready.<\/p>\n

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One of three vegetable beds beginning to sprout.\u00a0 In the back, not in the bed, are four plants: rosemary, bay, chile pepper, and niepita.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I guess I could spend time carefully taking pictures and serve cold food but that approach wouldn\u2019t last long in my household.<\/p>\n

I could cook specifically for the blog and not worry about serving the food, at least not the day I cook it.\u00a0 That would create a major leftover problem.\u00a0 Besides, many dishes aren\u2019t at their best when reheated.\u00a0 On the other hand, many foods are better if made in advance.\u00a0 So, I guess this is a partial solution to the problem that could work on a case-by-case basis depending on what the dish is.<\/p>\n

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I can think of other potential solutions but each has its problem.\u00a0 This could include having a photographer arrange the plate and photograph it (presumably while I\u2019m having dinner with the rest of the household).<\/p>\n

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We’re looking forward to a winter crop of tomatoes!<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alternatively, I could serve everyone then spend time arranging a plate to photograph, hoping to join the dinner table before everyone is finished.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll keep working on a fix to the issue but, in the meantime, I encourage you to try this Italian-American dish.\u00a0 It scales up easily so you can feed a crowd if you need to.\u00a0 The leftovers are pretty incredible, too!<\/p>\n

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Greens for salad being started directly in the bed.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American websites, including the New York Times, usually say the name of this dish translates as Chicken Shoemaker Style.\u00a0 However, you won\u2019t find the word \u201cscarpariello\u201d in an Italian dictionary.\u00a0 To be sure, the word \u201cscarpa\u201d means shoe but the Italian word for shoemaker is \u201ccalzolaio.\u201d\u00a0 Scarpariello, however, is the word for shoemaker in the Neapolitan dialect, which gives a clue as to which immigrant group might have been responsible for creating this Italian-American favorite.

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Pollo allo Scarpariello (Chicken Shoemaker Style)<\/h2>\n
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Scarpariello means shoemaker in the Neapolitan dialect. This may give a clue as to the origins of this Italian-American favorite. The dish builds on a classic combination in the cooking of many regions of Italy: chicken cooked with wine and vinegar. The capers are optional. Use sweet or hot pickled peppers as you prefer or, if you want to spice it up, add some crushed red pepper when saut\u00e9ing the garlic. If you don't have a stove-to-oven pot large enough to hold all the ingredients, do the browning in a large saute pan then assemble everything in a large baking dish.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>2 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>2 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span> 30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>8<\/span> people<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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