Fried chicken spaghetti combines two beloved dishes with a result that deserves twice the love. Chicken thigh fillets, skin on, are seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice and fried until the skins are browned and crisp as cracklings. The fillets are chopped into strips and go on top of bowls of spaghetti tossed with tomato cream sauce. So, so good!
You will need two pans to make this fried chicken spaghetti — a sauce pan for cooking the tomato cream sauce and a frying pan to fry the chicken in. The sauce and the chicken cook at the same time so that both chicken and noodles are hot when you serve the fried chicken spaghetti.
A note about sun-dried tomatoes… You can buy them dried or soaked in oil. I used the latter. If using the dried variety, you may need to add more olive oil in the sauce.
- 4 large chicken thigh fillets or 8 small, skin on
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- juice of one lemon
- 1 cup cooking oil for frying
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 50 grams smoked belly bacon finely sliced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 6 fresh plump tomatoes chopped
- 2 heaping tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes with the oil
- salt
- pepper
- sugar
- 1 cup cream
- cooked spaghetti for four
- basil leaves to garnish
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Place the chicken thigh fillets in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice. Mix, working the seasonings into the meat. Cover and keep the fridge.
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Heat the olive oil in the sauce pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until a little soft and translucent. Add the bacon and garlic, and continue cooking for another two to three minutes with occasional stirring.
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Add the chopped tomatoes and stir. Cover and allow to simmer.
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Measure the sun-dried tomatoes. DO NOT drain. You want all that flavored olive oil in your sauce. Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes. DO NOT chop to a pulp. You want discernible bits which will add a good texture and color to the sauce. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the sauce. Stir. Season with salt, pepper and a little sugar to balance the flavors. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
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While the sauce simmers, fry the chicken. Heat the cooking oil in the frying pan. Fry the chicken, in batches if necessary, until browned and the skins are crisp and puffed like cracklings. Scoop out and move to a rack.
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After simmering for 20 minutes, check your sauce. The flavors would have developed nicely at this point. DO NOT be tempted to add water or broth. You want your sauce to be almost dry.
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Add the cream to the sauce. Stir, taste, adjust the seasonings if necessary. Just as the mixture starts to simmer, turn off the heat.
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Add the cooked spaghetti to the sauce, toss then divide among four individual plates or pasta bowls.
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Chop the fried chicken into strips and arrange on top of the pasta.
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Sprinkle some finely sliced sweet basil leaves over the chicken and pasta. Serve at once.
