When
I told Michele I was making a grilled chicken recipe using a jar of
chilies from Calabria, she said, “Well, you’ll have to call it stubborn chicken
then!” We both laughed. You see, when Michele first met my father,
John, he asked her what part of Italy her family was from. When she
answered, “Calabria,” he said, “Oh, so you’re really stubborn.”
Michele
laughed, and agreed that she was, but asked what that had to do with
being Calabrian. My father explained that where he was from, “Calabrese”
was jokingly used as a term for a stubborn person, apparently stemming
from an inappropriate, yet possibly accurate stereotype.
Far from being insulted, Michele embraced this revelation, and it’s been a source of pride ever since. I know, that’s so Calabrese. Anyway, now that I’ve taken three paragraphs to explain the inside joke with the title, I can finally get to this recipe.
When we first posted our Cornell Chicken recipe,
I mentioned wanting to try the same method using different herbs and
spices. When I saw a jar of Tutto Calabria chili peppers on a recent
shopping trip, I remembered that, and decided to give this a whirl. It
was great! Here's a link to their homepage, in case you want more information on this cool hot product (btw, you'll need to be able to read Italian).