This past week we received the latest version of La Cucina Italiana Magazine October 2012 edition. If you are not familiar with this magazine, I wrote about it here.
The magazine gives lots of authentic Italian recipes and is filled with beautiful and professional images and articles.
As I was flipping through the magazine, I came across the recipe on page 65 called Malloreddus al Coniglio.
Fortunately they give the English translation – Malloreddus with Roasted Rabbit, Tomato and Olives.
Like you, I need recipes that are easy to make and don’t require tons of time and extravagant ingredients. Since I love the recipes in the magazine I often try to find recipes that I can simplify down and use for my own.
The recipe I am sharing with you is inspired by their recipe.
A few recipe changes
I kept most of the ingredients the same switching the rabbit out for chicken, and omitted rosemary, red pepper flakes (due to stomach aversions to these flakes).
Also, instead of fresh Malloreddus pasta (see image at right), I used regular bow tie pasta – Farfalle.
I also ignored the instructions to marinate the meat in the sauce overnight.
Instead, I just let the flavors simmer while the sauce cooked. Keep reading… you’ll see…
Serves 4
Total Time: Approx 30 minutes or so.
Ingredients
- 2- 3 sliced garlic cloves
- 3-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup sliced pre-cooked chicken meat (you can even omit the chicken for a meatless dish)
- dash salt and pepper (optional)
- 4 large fresh ripe tomatoes diced (keep all the juice).
- 1/2 cup chopped olives (kalamata, Italian green olives, or a mix of both)
- handful of sliced fresh basil
- 1 lb Farfalle or other similar pasta shape
Instructions:
- In a large saute pan (I used my Cuisinart French Classic Stainless 5-1/2-Quart Saute Pan
pan which I wish everyone owned), heat the olive oil over medium heat
- Add in the garlic and saute until fragrant for about 3 minutes
- Add in the cooked chicken, olives and tomatoes and give a good stir
- Meanwhile bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta
- Cover the sauce mixture and simmer over low- medium heat.
- Note: If the mixture becomes too dry, perhaps from the tomatoes cooking down too much, take some of the pasta water and add it in.
- When the pasta is ready, reserve some of the water off to the side and then transfer the pasta into the sauce pan.
- Note: If your pan is not large enough to accommodate the pasta, then transfer the pasta to a large bowl and add in the sauce.
- Add in the fresh basil
- Serve topped with some Romano or other Italian cheese.
Tips:
- This recipe can easily become a vegetarian dish by omitting the chicken. My goal with the chicken was to mainly add some more flavor, not to make the chicken the focal point of the dish.
- I would recommend sticking to short pasta for this recipe. I had actually never heard of Malloreddus pasta and certainly never seen it in our stores here.
- The olives… I had planned on using only kalamata olives just like the original recipe called for but long and behold I didn’t have a spare jar and only had a few left in the fridge. I did however have some Italian green olives which I used and found the mix was really nice.
- The Italian green olives are more mild than the kalamata olives and for anyone who doesn’t like kalamata olives, try using just the green olives. Keep in mind, true Italian green olives are more pricey, but you can also use the Spanish green olives even if stuffed with the pimentos which you can keep or just remove.
- Again as always fresh is best. If you absolutely cannot use fresh tomatoes use diced canned tomatoes with little or no salt and rinse them really well. There are no set rules here, so try what you feel is best.
For example maybe next time, if in the winter when tomatoes are not all that great – I’ll try a can of whole tomatoes and crush them and let the sauce mixture cook down longer about 30 to 40 minutes. - Using fresh basil is best. I actually had some that I froze in ice cube trays from last year’s garden and it still gave a wonderful fragrant aroma to the dish.
I hope you try this recipe – it is wonderful, easy to make and really simple!
Mangiamo!
Liz