Aging Disgracefully

In a Dutch oven, heat some olive oil. Add in 18 oz. of lightly floured chicken drumsticks or legs and brown the chicken in the oil.* Be sure to achieve a really rich color by aggressively browning. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add 3 cups of chopped fresh mushrooms**, 2 sliced seeded medium sweet peppers, 1 large thinly sliced onion, and some finely chopped garlic. Scrape all of the carmelization from the pan (add in the onions, then the mushrooms; as each gives up moisture, you'll have liquid to work with to deglaze). Add dry white wine to cover, crushed red pepper flakes and bring to almost boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, until the liquid is 60-75% gone. Add in a 28oz. can of undrained San Marzano tomatoes, a good solid couple of squirts from a sun-dried tomato paste tube (perhaps 3 squirts or 2 tablespoons), 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, chopped fresh basil (actually, add this at the end), 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh cracked pepper. Return the chicken to the pan. Simmer uncovered until the chicken is tender, almost breaking apart (hence the use of dark meat: there is less danger of drying out). Toss in fresh chopped basil and Italian parsley. Mix in freshly cooked ziti or penne, stir through and serve after letting it cook in for 10 minutes. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago cheese.

*Don't put in too much oil. Just a bit, just enough. If you put in too much, the browning will go slowly and you'll get ALOT of hot oil splatter. Also, if you are using only drumsticks, skin them. They are fatty enough that you can carmelize right off the skin and not have to worry about drying out the meat. Even with the rest of the left quarter, you can probably get away with this. Anyway, brown the drumsticks more aggressively.

**The mushrooms should be chopped pretty large. They will cook down to the appropriate size. If you cut them normal size, they will be too small. However, don't cut the peppers too big. They cook down some, but not as much.