Straccetti

Smoked Chicken, Corn, Scallion

Straccetti are one of the perfectly imperfect official shapes out there. Translating to "twisted rags" the shape is often randomly hand cut from a sheet of fresh pasta dough, but over the years the shape has become available in a dry form for convenience. Popular in Puglia, straccetti are often paired with a very simple thin sliced beef, olive oil, and salt in which the juices and rendered fat from the beef create a deep flavored sauce. 

Taking the Puglia tradition of using a simple meat and it’s fat and juices to infuse flavor into straccetti, I wanted to create something original with that approach in mind. Using in season ingredients is important to this dish, but the key is making sure you inject a copious amount of smoke into the chicken, which adds an incredible amount of dimension to each bite. Try this recipe out and become a pasta pit master. Do those even exist?

Servings: 4 - Time: ~2.5 hrs. - Difficulty: 2 - Take-a Your Time

Ingredients & Mise en Place

17.6 oz. straccetti
1.5 lbs. chicken thighs - skins removed & bone in
1 bunch scallions - cut into ¼ inch slices
2 cups fire roasted corn - 3 ears of corn or buy frozen
1 medium red onion
1 pint cherry tomatoes
parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper

Directions

Smoked Chicken
Soak a quart of apple and hickory chips in a container over night. Next day heat a smoker or grill to 265°F. Liberally salt chicken thighs and place on the grill or smoker away from the heat source. Place smoking chips onto your coals and begin the smoking process.

Continuously check on your chicken, coals, and smoke - add more charcoal if temperature begins to dip and add more chips if smoking ceases. The chicken will be one once it has shrunk and is exposing the bones - about 45-75 mins. Remove from the grill and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cool, pull and shred the chicken into small bite size portions and set aside.

Corn
Using a grill at high heat, place lightly oiled and salted corn directly over heat source, turn frequently. Once you have burnt/charred a good portion of the kernels, remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle carefully cut the kernels away from the cob. Reserve for later.

Pasta
Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat add two table spoons of oil, once heated add onion and allow to sweat until soft - about 5 minutes. Next, add the straccetti to the boiling water and cook 7-9 minutes for al dente pasta.

Add the tomato, corn, and chicken to the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and reduce to medium-low heat. Stir frequently. Once al dente, strain the pasta (reserving ¼ cup pasta water) and mix to the sauce with ¼ cup cheese, scallion, and pasta water. Mix thoroughly, and divide into four portion. Cover in more cheese, fresh cracked pepper, and scallion.