Chef Angelo Morinelli of Café D'Angelo in West Boca Raton tells how a shoemaker's recipe has been a constant source of pleasure and controversy
Boca Raton, FL- The story's basic premise is widely agreed upon: a shoemaker, feeling dejected at his inability to patch together a certain pair of shoes, walks into a makeshift kitchen behind his shop and "patches" together some leftovers. What resulted is now known as Scarpiello (the Italian word for shoemaker). The controversy lies in where this particular shoemaker resided when the dish was created- was it New York City or Naples, Italy?
"You don't find this dish in Italy," says Chef Angelo. "It's a New York thing through and through. They've got it everywhere in New York and you don't even have to say the full name- everyone just calls it Scarp."
Seems South Florida chefs are mostly agreed as to the provenance of Scarpiello- maybe.
"Maybe. I say maybe it was first made in New York."
That's Café Martorano owner and cook, Steve Martorano. He was contacted in Las Vegas where he's opening a new restaurant at the Rio. Though busy getting ready for the opening, he had plenty to say on the topic of Scarpiello.
"It's not an Italian classic, that's for sure. It's not a dish from the old country and I can tell you that being from Philly, it's not from there either," says Martorano. "There's hundreds of versions all over New York, but the best all use dark chicken meat that's on the bone and cut in small pieces."
For every different opinion and, apparently, every different shoemaker, there's a different recipe. That makes sense considering that original story has a shoemaker cobbling together leftovers. The common thread seems to be small pieces of chicken that are braised along with garlic, some sort of pepper, olives and either sweet or spicy sausage.
"My Scarpiello comes from a family recipe that I inherited when I took over the family restaurant in Mineola (Long Island) in 1969," says Chef Angelo. "I use that recipe because it makes the best scarpiello I've ever had."
Chef Angelo took over the famed, La Cisterna, from his father in 1969. Under Chef Angelo's management, La Cisterna became a destination for Manhattanites despite being in Mineola, Long Island. Chef Angelo reports that he had people who swore by his Scarpiello recipe and wouldn't hesitate to fight traffic on the Long Island Expressway for a taste of his family recipe.
"We always had a great following at La Cisterna, but when our little Long Island restaurant got written up in the (New York) Times things really took off," says Chef Angelo. "My Scarpiello became a signature dish and the favorite of everyone who tried it- that's saying a lot in the birthplace of the dish."
Chef Angelo's Scarpiello starts with small pieces of chicken on the bone that are lightly brushed with flour and fried quickly. While the chicken is frying, he has a pan on high heat roasting garlic. He then deglazes the pan with white wine and adds lemon juice- this becomes his braising liquid. Chef Angelo then adds the chicken and sausage to the pan to braise. He then adds olives, mushrooms and yellow peppers and continues cooking until tender. What started as a familiar enough white wine, lemon and garlic sauce ends up almost as a light gravy, "partly from the chicken and sausage juices and partly from the flour that was dusted on the chicken just before frying," Chef Angelo explains.
The result is delightfully refined. The protein flavors are prominent, but offset by the slight tang of citrus and floral qualities of the lemon and white wine. Chef Angelo serves this at Café D'Angelo as an individual portion, but also offers it in a family-style format.
"If I was cooking this dish at home I would serve it family-style," advises Chef Angelo. "The recipe translates easily to larger quantities and it lends itself to over-sized serving dishes. Also, to get the proper cuts of chicken you'll want to ask your butcher for the Scarpiello cut. If he's from New York he'll know what you're talking about."
Media Contact: David Muise Full Spectrum Media (954) 239-9733 ext.1006
