Every time I approach a recipe that involves innards, I can’t help but hear “parts is parts” pipe up somewhere deep in my subconscious. I grew up eating a fair number of parts, be they from cows or sheep, chicken or ducks, or whatever, and over the years, I’ve had many more. Considered by many to be poor people food, because organs are generally cheaper than the cuts of muscle from any given animal, they are a strong component in various cuisines around the world. Here in Argentina, you wouldn’t consider having an asado, a cookout, without at least a couple of different organ meats thrown into the mix. And, in Roman cuisine, they are referred to as “the fifth quarter” of the animal, and many dishes make use of offal. Today, we’re headed that direction with another classic pasta dish of the region.

You know those little packets of giblets that come inside of every supermarket chicken? The ones that you probably throw out, or stick in the freezer, figuring, I’ll get to those one day? I save those up in the freezer until I have enough to make something out of. I do tend to organize it a bit – I keep a small ziplock bag for livers and another for the gizzards and hearts. The necks go into another bag with things like wingtips, which all get used to make chicken stock.

Today we’re making Fettuccine alle Rigaglie di Pollo, literally, fettuccine with chicken giblets. I don’t know why, but fettuccine here in Buenos Aires, when you buy the dry, almost always comes in these little rolled up nests. And the packages usually assert that one nest is a portion. Maybe as part of a multi-course tasting menu, but I figure on more like 2-3 as a portion. And usually I make my own fettuccine, but I wanted to focus on the sauce in this post.

So what else do we have? Pepper, white wine, canned peeled whole plum tomatoes, my little packets of gizzards and livers, maybe half a dozen of each, parmigiano, a leek, celery stalk, carrot, and bay leaf. Not shown, some olive oil, and a pot of salted water. Some people only use the gizzards and hearts, and save the livers for other things. I like the combination, as did the woman who showed me how to make this one.

First step, just the gizzards and hearts, into the pot of salted water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to very low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain. Refill the pot with more salted water for the pasta.

Finely dice the carrot, celery, and leek.

And the same with the livers, and the par-cooked gizzards and hearts. And grate the cheese.

In a skillet, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and add the vegetables. Cook over low heat for about ten minutes, until they’re softened.

Turn up the heat, add the wine, and cook it off for about a minute.

Add the canned tomatoes, the bay leaf, about a dozen grinds of black pepper (or more if you like), and the diced meats. You could also use canned peeled diced tomatoes rather than whole, which would save a little time, and give you a more even spread of tomato through the sauce, but I kind of like it with pops of tomato here and there.

Cook it down, breaking up the tomato to some extent. Remove the bay leaf. About midway through this process is a good time to drop your pasta in the boiling salted water. Or, you can prepare this sauce in advance to this point, and just keep it set aside, reheating it when you’re ready to finish the pasta.

Add a ladle of the pasta water and mix well to get that starchy emulsification going.

When the pasta is about two minutes short of being done, add it to the sauce, along with another ladle of the pasta water. Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, stirring and tossing to get it all to thicken up and coat the fettuccine.

Melt the cheese with a couple of tablespoons of the hot pasta water, into a creamy mass.

Off the heat!!! Add the cheese, and stir and toss to let it melt throughout the pasta.

And, here’s our finished fettuccine alle rigaglie di pollo.

Plate, and eat!