Italian Family Chicken Mostaccioli Pasta Recipe Is Legitimately the Best Ever by Donna John

When times get tough, cook. For some people (like me), cooking is a mindfulness activity. A sweet friend of mine knew that when I was going through a hard time, and sent a care package with kitchen items, including a copy of Half Baked Harvest Super Simple by Tieghan Gerard. The first recipe I made from the cookbook was a quick Filipino adobo and creamy coconut rice. Delicious! The second was Caroline's Family's Chicken Mostaccioli, which was equally delicious.

"One Christmas, Caroline taught me how to make her family's chicken mostaccioli ('little mustaches' in Italian)," Tieghan writes in the cookbook. "With just a glance at the ingredient list, you might not think it's anything out of the ordinary, but let me tell you, this chicken is legitimately the best ever."

To make this pasta recipe you will need to gather the following ingredients from your fridge and pantry: whole allspice berries, bacon, onion, fresh garlic, bone-in/skin-on chicken breasts, bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs, dry red wine, tomato paste, bay leaves, a Parmesan rind and mostaccioli pasta (penne or ziti work well, too). For a gluten-free dinner, use gluten-free pasta.

Serve the flavorful chicken in a sea of Italian red sauce over the pasta for dinner with your favorite side dishes. As usual, I added a simple salad on the side with apple cider vinaigrette.

The sauce gets better the next day. "If time allows, make this in the morning, or even the day before you plan to serve it," writes Tieghan. "The longer it sits, the more flavor it will have." 

Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 20 whole allspice berries
• 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 bone-in/skin-on chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 - 3 bone-in/skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 pound)
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 12 ounces tomato paste
• 4 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Parmesan rind, plus more cheese grated for serving
• 1 pound mostaccioli, uncooked (or penne, ziti or your favorite pasta)

Here's how to make it: 

1. Put the allspice berries into a piece of cheesecloth and tie with kitchen twine. (I didn't have cheesecloth so I put mine into a tea infuser.)
   
2. In a dutch oven or large pot, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until fat has rendered and the bacon is beginning to crisp up, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the onion and garlic. (I cooked the onion and garlic about 2 minutes, stirring often.)
   
3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Put the chicken into the pan and cook until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. (Next time I am going to brown my chicken first then remove it to a plate while I cook the bacon, onions and garlic. The pan got a little crowded, though the chicken did brown. I pushed bacon, garlic and onions to the side to make room, but ended up removing the chicken to a plate to make it easier to add the remaining ingredients. I did not have bone-in chicken breasts, so I used all thighs.)
   
4. Add the wine. Stir, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
   
5. Add the tomato paste and water. Stir until combined. Add the bay leaves, Parmesan rind and allspice bundle (or hang the tea infuser on the side of the pot with the allspice submerged). Bring to a simmer.
   
6. If you removed the chicken from the pot, gently submerge them into the liquid. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
   
7. Reduce heat to low and cover the pot. (I used my Le Creuset dutch oven, but any large pot with a tight-fitting lid will be fine.)
   
8. Simmer on low heat for about 2 hours, without peeking. (In the recipe, she says if you have time, you can continue to simmer for 2 to 4 more hours.) After 2 hours, lift the lid and stir the sauce. The chicken should be fall-apart tender.
   
9. Remove the bay leaves, Parmesan rind, allspice and chicken from the pot. (I used tongs to remove the ingredients. Be very thorough when removing the chicken. The chicken literally falls apart, so make sure you get all the bones, skin and other pieces that are not edible out of the pot. The bones can be a choking hazard.) Discard the bay leaves, rind and allspice. Put the chicken on a plate to cool.
   
10. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat. Return it to the sauce.
    
11. Stir and taste. Add more salt and pepper, if needed. (If you want a thicker sauce, you can simmer for a while at the end with the lid off.)
    
12. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain. (My grocery store did not have mostaccioli, so I used penne. For a gluten-free dinner, use gluten-free pasta.)
    
13. Serve the chicken over the pasta on a serving platter topped with more grated Parmesan cheese.
    
14. You could also stir the pasta directly into the sauce in the pot. Store any leftover sauce and pasta in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.
    

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