Quick Puttanesca Sauce with Cheese Ravioli and Chicken Thighs
If you are a fan of salty, briny things like olives and capers, here’s a super simple pasta sauce you should try. What’s great about this sauce is that I was able to come up with it from many things I usually have in my pantry and my refrigerator. It’s an Italian classic sauce that was first made in Naples, Italy…the same place Italians claim pizza was invented! The beauty of this sauce is that it only needs about 30 minutes to cook…not like an all-day Ragu. So this is perfect for a weeknight meal.
I made things even easier on myself by using frozen cheese ravioli that I had purchased a few months ago on a recent trip to an Italian market on “The Hill” in St. Louis. I stocked up on all kinds of frozen ravioli and loaded up the freezer, knowing that we would enjoy these handmade beauties over the coming months.
If you are a regular reader of mine, you know that my favorite cut of chicken to use are chicken thighs. Their meat never dries out, is very tender and if you use bone-in/skin on, they will infuse any dish you make with an enormous amount of chicken flavor. The trick with this dish is to be sure to sear the skin side-down in a medium hot skillet until it is crispy. Lately I’ve been focusing on ways to make sure the dishes I create include a variety of textures. It will take a so-so dish to an amazing dish when your mouth is able to experience soft, crisp, tender, and smooth all in one bite.
So if you’re looking to add another classic Italian sauce option to your repertoire, give Puttanesca a try.
Quick Puttanesca Sauce with Cheese Ravioli and Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 large chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground, black pepper
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup good Italian red wine
- 2 tbsp capers
- 1/2 cup olives (either whole or chopped)
- 2 tsp anchovy paste (optional)
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 14 ounce can good quality tomato sauce (San Marzano)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 package cheese ravioli (fresh or frozen)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Instructions
- In an oven-safe, deep skillet: heat olive oil over medium high heat
- While skillet is heating, sprinkle all 4 chicken thighs with Italian seasoning, sea salt and pepper
- Place chicken thighs skin-side down in hot skillet. Cook for 6 minutes to form a crispy skin (do not move chicken at all for the full 6 minutes)
- Turn chicken over and cook on opposite side for 5 minutes
- Remove chicken from skillet and place on plate to hold until sauce is complete
- In the same deep skillet, turn heat down to medium.
- Add onion and garlic, stir almost constantly so garlic doesn't burn. Saute 5 minutes
- Pour in red wine, stir until you loosen any chicken bits from bottom of skillet.
- Add the remaining ingredients, capers, olives, anchovy paste, crushed red pepper flakes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine.
- Place seared chicken thighs on top of sauce, make sure their crispy top skin is on top.
- Transfer skillet to 375 oven and cook (uncovered) for an additional 30 minutes
- While chicken is in the oven, heat large pot of water to boiling, add a generous couple of tablespoons of sea salt
- Once you carefully remove skillet from oven, add ravioli to boiling, salted water and cook until ravioli floats to the surface. Anywhere from 3 – 7 minutes
- Drain ravioli
- To plate: place ravioli on plate and top with puttanesca sauce. Top with parmigiano reggiano cheese.
- Place chicken thigh on plate…do not cover thigh with sauce so the skin stays crisp
- Serve with a lovely fresh green salad and good Italian Red wine
Notes
- The anchovy paste is optional, but buying it in a tube makes it last forever in the refrigerator and helps add salt and umami to any dish.
- The crushed red pepper flakes are optional if you’d rather not have any heat.
- Use any olives that you like and/or a mixture. My favorite are green Castelvetrano and Kalamata Olives.
- You’ll notice there isn’t a lot of extra salt added to the dish. The olives, capers and fresh parmigiano will add a lot of saltiness to the dish.
