Community Corner
Chicken Cacciatore Comfort Food, Italian Style
Chicken and vegetables simmer together to create this wonderfully satisfying dish.
"You don't want to make a steady diet of just lettuce. You don't want to make a steady diet of fried chicken." ~Paula Deen
Chicken Cacciatore is one of those dishes that is just perfect for a slow cooker. Chicken and vegetables stewing together all day-the smell is heavenly and the taste is spectacular. So when I saw that the supermarket had chicken thighs on sale I just knew I had to make it. I dug out my old recipe, purchased my ingredients and pulled the slow cooker from the pantry. Then I ran late every morning, all week long. Rats!
I did end up making the Chicken Cacciatore for dinner one night by modifying the recipe, but hopefully next time I'm going to make it I will get out of bed when the alarm goes off. The first time.
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Here are a couple of "fun facts" about Chicken Cacciatore:
CC Fun Fact No. 1: Traditional Chicken Cacciatore is not made with tomatoes-however, modern versions typically are.
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CC Fun Fact No. 2: Oct. 15 is National Chicken Cacciatore Day.
Now, on to the recipe:
Chicken Cacciatore
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken thighs, skin removed
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 sm sweet onion, sliced thin
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced thin
- 4 cloves chopped garlic
- 8 oz pkg of mushrooms, washed and coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp Seasoned salt
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 3/4 cup white wine (I used Pinot Grigio because that is what I had-use whatever you like)
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- Parmesan cheese
- Cooked white rice (or pasta, if you prefer)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Salt and pepper the chicken (both sides).
- Dredge chicken in flour.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large pan on the stove over medium-high heat.
- Place chicken in the pan and brown chicken on both sides, then transfer to a plate.
- Add onions, peppers and garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Add mushrooms and cook for another minute.
- Add Italian seasoning, salt and wine.
- Once the wine is bubbling, add tomatoes and stir.
- Put the chicken back into the pan.
- Put a lid on the pan and put it into the oven.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- Remove lid and turn oven up to 375, then cook for 15 minutes.
- Take the pan out of the oven.
- Take the chicken from the pan and put on a plate.
- Take the vegetables from the pan and put them on another plate.
- Return pan to stove and turn heat to medium high.
- Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes to reduce it.
- To serve, put rice (or pasta) on a platter and spoon the vegetables over the top.
- Place chicken on top of the vegetables.
- Spoon juices over the chicken (to taste).
- Top with Parmesan cheese.
(You can see why it would be so much easier to do this in a slow cooker.)
Enjoy!