Chicken Cacciatore

For the main course, Minoo picked an Italian dish called Chicken Cacciatore for the South Arm Community Kitchen. Cacciatore refers to a meal prepared “hunter-style” with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, herbs and sometimes with wine. It is popular to be made with chicken or rabbit.

This is a rustic and hearty meal complete with carbohydrate, protein and vegetables. You may served the Chicken Cacciatore with pasta, rice or bread.

Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs or 3 chicken breasts cut into halves
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 pieces of button mushrooms, slice
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 x 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons drained capers
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
• pasta to be served with this dish (allocate about 4 oz per person)

Source: this recipe is adapted from Giada De Lauentis

Serves 6

Instructions

Remove skin and excess fat from the chicken. Wash and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon  pepper with 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and mix well.

Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat lightly.

In a large heavy saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and saute just until brown, about 5 minutes per side. You may do this in two batches if the pan is not big enough. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add onions into the same pan and saute over medium heat until onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and bell peppers and saute for another two minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes with their juice.

Add the chicken broth. You may adjust the amount of chicken broth depending on the amount of liquid already in the pan.

Season with capers and oregano.

We just realized that we left out the mushrooms and we saute the mushroom in a separate pan and added back to the sauce. By right, the mushrooms should go in after the onions.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Continue simmering over medium-low heat until the chicken is just cooked through, about 20 minutes for the thighs, 30 minutes for the breast pieces.

At the last 10 minutes of the cooking the chicken, cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

Drain the pasta and place on a large platter.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken to the platter with the pasta. If necessary, boil the sauce until it thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Spoon off any excess fat from atop the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken, Sprinkle with chop basil and serve.

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