"Chicken ala After Manhattans"

And now for a second week of cooking with my father!  Drinks of choice for this cooking experience were Manhattan for Dad (hence the title of this dish) and water for myself (normally I'd partake, but wasn't a good week to do so...besides it was fun to observe and assist the master at work).  I have to be honest with you all, I had different plans for what I wanted to make, and with the changes made, I really wasn't sure how it'd turn out.  Even with the initial doubts, the end product was fantastic!

My ingredient list for this week:

• Polish Sausage (from a butcher in Cairo, NY)
• Chicken Thighs (about 3.5 lbs cut into strips)
• 1 Sweet Onion
• 2 Roasted Red Bell Peppers
• Marinated Artichokes (1/2 pint from Pickle Licious)
• 4 Large Cloves of Garlic
• Toma Torino (from Cooperstown Cheese Company)
• Mozzarella
• Whiskey
• Vermouth
• 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Tsp Cayenne
• 3 Tsp Cumin
• Butter 
• Whole Wheat Angel Hair Pasta

 First of all, get water heating for the pasta.

Next, roast the red peppers.  Set your oven to broil, and put your peppers (with the stem cut off) on a baking sheet in the oven.  When one side starts to blacken, flip it to another side, and do so until it has been partially blackened on all sides.  Once out of the oven and cooled down, peel the skin off, slice and cut those slices in half.

Slice the whole onion.  I used the same type of garlic I used in the jambalaya, but instead of mincing it, I thinly sliced each clove.

Take this time to also slice up the cheese you have.  I used Toma Torino from Cooperstown Cheese Company, which is an Italian, Alpine table cheese.  I also used cheese trimmings that we had, so the best equivalent to those would be Mozzarella.
 
Once the veggies and cheese are cut, it's time to cut up the meat.  Cut the chicken thighs into strips, and the sausage into chunks.  The sausage was from a butcher in Cairo, NY, and smelled very garlicky!

Mix the flour, cayenne, and cumin together, and put it into a plastic bag with the chicken to coat it.

Now it is time to start cooking everything.  Put olive oil in your pan, and crank the heat to medium-high.  Cook the sausage until it is brown, and almost cooked all the way through.  Once done, transfer the sausage to a plate with a paper towel to soak up some of the grease.

Next, add 2 Tbsp of butter to the pan, and once melted, cook the chicken (since there is a lot, feel free to cook it in batches).  When the chicken is brown, and no longer pink in the middle, take out of the pan, and turn down the heat.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add a little bit of whiskey to de-glaze the pan, with the rest being vermouth (being the less expensive of the alcohols).  Once the stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan is scraped up and into the sauce, add the garlic, onions and sausage.  When the onions are soft, add the chicken, cover the pan, and let it simmer to ensure the meat is all the way cooked.

Add the roasted red pepper and marinated artichokes and mix.  Finally add the cheese to the top of everything, and put in the oven.  When the cheese starts to brown, take out and it is ready to eat!