Chicken with Pasta (Pastitsada) from Corfu GreekFoodTv☼

A traditional chicken recipe from the healthy cooking of Corfu. Kids and adults love it equally. To see recipe, press the more button.


Chicken Stewed in Fragrant Tomato Sauce with Thick Pasta from Corfu / Chicken Pastitsada

4-6 servings

½ cup/120 ml extra-virgin Greek olive oil
One 3- to 3 ½-pound/1.35-1.6-kilo chicken, cut into stewing pieces (fat trimmed and skin removed, if desired)
3 cups coarsely chopped red onions
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
½ tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. sweet or hot paprika
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
4-6 allspice berries, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste diluted with 2 Tbsp./30 ml water
Pinch of sugar (optional)
1 pound/500 g. tubular spaghetti, like bucatini
Grated kefalotyri or any hard yellow cheese, to taste (optional)

1. In a large stewing pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, then brown the chicken pieces (skin side down first) on all sides in batches. Season with salt.
2. Add the onions to the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, and stir until wilted and soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, cloves, paprika (sweet or hot), nutmeg, curry powder, cumin, allspice, salt and pepper and stir for 1 minute, just enough to open up their aroma. Pour in the tomatoes. Add a little water to come about a third or halfway up the chicken. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 35 to 40 minutes. Before removing the chicken from the heat, stir in the diluted tomato paste just to thicken up the sauce. Taste and add a pinch of sugar, if needed.
3. While the chicken is cooking, heat a large pot of salted water for the pasta. Boil the pasta until al dente and drain. To serve, place pasta on individual plates or on large serving platter with the chicken and sauce over it. Sprinkle with grated cheese, if desired.

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Come to visit Diane and Vassili at their GLORIOUS GREEK KITCHEN COOKING SCHOOL (Ikaria). They run cooking classes and organize culinary tours in Greece for recreational and professional cooks. They also own DV FOOD ARTS CONSULTING, a food marketing company that produces specialty books and other food-and-wine-related literature for a wide variety of clients and independently for the tourist and other markets. Diane consults on Greek cuisine for restaurants, retail outlets and producers of fine Greek foods. Vassilis Stenos (photographer) offers an extensive archive of food and travel photographs of Greece.

Diane Kochilas is an internationally known food writer, cookbook author, culinary teacher, food consultant and food "guru". She has more than 20 years' experience in the Greek kitchen. Diane divides her time between Athens, Ikaria, and New York. She is the consulting chef at Pylos, one of New York's top-rated Greek restaurants as well as consulting chef at Avli Restaurant in Chicago. She writes frequently for the US food press and appears regularly on American television. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Gourmet, Saveur, Food & Wine, Eating Well and in other food and general-interest publications. In Athens, she is the weekly food columnist and restaurant critic for Ta Nea, the country's largest newspaper. She has written 19 books on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, including the award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece. Her books include: The Food and Wine of Greece, The Greek Vegetarian, The Glorious Foods of Greece, Meze, Against the Grain (good carbs), Mediterranean Grilling, Mastiha Cuisine, The Northern Greek Wine Roads Cookbook, and Aegean Cuisine (see below).