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Fettuccine Alle Rigaglie di Pollo (Fettuccine With Chicken Giblet Ragù)

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Pasta on a platter topped with a chunky ragu and grated Parmesan.
Photo by Jason Lang

This is a wonderful recipe. It’s a very brown ragù—a dance in the dirt, full of iron. But it also has the flavors of a cozy gravy, of roasted birds on cold winter days. Meanwhile, it’s a grand gesture of thrift and deliciousness. When we cooked this pasta it came to about one dollar per portion.  

  

The insides of a chicken are so neglected, but with some care, and patience, one of the best pastas you’ll ever taste will take shape with its “nasty bits.”

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Serves 4 as a main course, or 6 as a starter

Ingredients

1 pound chicken offal—a mix of livers, gizzards, and hearts (we use about 60% livers and 40% gizzards and hearts.)
¼ cup olive oil, plus more if needed
Salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed with the side of a knife
1 small peperoncino chile
1 bay leaf
Fresh rosemary sprig
Fresh thyme leaves, to taste
⅓ cup finely diced onion
½ cup white wine
¾ cup chicken or vegetable stock, plus more if needed
1 pound fresh fettuccine
Plenty of grated cheese (ricotta salata, pecorino, or Parmesan)
Finely grated zest of ¼ lemon

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    With a sharp paring knife, remove any visible fat, arteries, or membranes from the offal, as best as you can. Pat it dry with paper towels.

    Step 2

    Add most of the olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. When the surface begins to shimmer, fry the offal in the olive oil, spreading it out in one layer, and season with salt. If the offal gives off water, cook until the pan starts to sizzle again; you are looking for it to brown. Then flip, and brown the other side.

    Step 3

    Add the crushed garlic cloves, another whirl of olive oil, the chili, bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme. Add the onion, lower the heat, and cook until the onion is very soft and begins to melt, about 7 minutes.

    Step 4

    Add the white wine to deglaze and scrape all the flavor from the bottom of the pot, reduce the wine by half, and add the chicken stock. Simmer gently, covered, for about 20 minutes, then let it rest for at least 10 minutes and as long as a few hours, for the flavors to meld. Remove the bay leaf and taste for salt and pepper.

    Step 5

    Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine to the boiling water and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the pasta, and toss it with your ragù over medium heat. Loosen it with some olive oil and stock if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, and finish with grated cheese and lemon zest.

Cover of the cookbook featuring purple artichokes on the stem.
Reprinted with permission from The Roads to Rome by Jarrett Wrisley & Paolo Vitaletti, copyright © 2020. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.

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