Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Italian Hunters Style Stew
This Chicken Cacciatore recipe is one of my quick chicken recipes you can put together to please the whole family and not kill yourself in the kitchen.I just made this from my boyfriend and his Mom and Dad. His Dad loved it so much he passed up dessert for a second helping of this chicken pasta recipe.
Now that's a compliment to the chef if I've ever heard one!
Making a Chicken Cacciatore recipe is a good bet when your trying to cook pasta for a crowd because everybody likes it and it's easy to prepare. But whether you're trying to please guests at a party or if it's just you and the family you can trust this recipe every time.
Traditionally Cacciatore was a hunters stew and it wasn't just made with chicken. Like many Italian pasta recipes you used what fresh ingredients were available to you to create something amazing. For instance you probably would have seen this dish made with Rabbit or Boar or other wild game.
Ingredients for Chicken Cacciatore recipe:
I like to use a whole chicken when making my cacciatore. You can purchase them pre-cut for you or buy it whole and ask the butcher in the store to cut it up. I don't know of any grocery store that won't do it for you.
Why do I have them cut if fresh? Well, it makes a difference to have any meat cut fresh. Try it and you'll taste the difference.
Save the spare pieces of chicken for your chicken stock recipe. I put them in a plastic bag and freeze them till I'm ready to make a batch home made. Mmmmmm Good.
The rest of the ingredients are:
1 lb. mafalda pasta or other long and thick pasta.1 sliced red pepper
1 sliced yellow pepper
small yellow onion chopped
8oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
cup white or red wine. I like using red for this hearty Italian Stew
3 cloves of garlic
cup sliced kalamata olives
28 oz can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes
sprig of Oregano
5 leaves of fresh basil leaves
Chopped Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
I also like to open a can of whole San Marzano tomatoes and add the tomatoes only to the pan without the juice or with depending on how much sauce you like your chicken cacciatore recipe.
salt & Pepper to taste
Plate covered in All purpose flour
Olive Oil Enough to cover the bottom or your pan.
I used a really unusual pasta shape called mafalda but you can 1 pound of fettucini or penne or even spaghetti.
Take the pieces of chicken and roll them one at a time in the flour you put on a plate and set aside on a separate plate.
In a large and deep saute pan heat enough Olive Oil to cover the pan. Tap off the excess flour and add each piece into the heated oil in the pan. You want the chicken to cook on the outside until golden brown.
Remove the chicken and set aside but keep the oil that you used to cook the chicken in the pan.
This is where you add your garlic, onions bell peppers and mushrooms to cook on med high heat.
Splash with white or red wine while you saute the vegetables and stir occasionally until the wine has evaporated and the vegetables are tender but firm.
Now you put the chicken back in the pan, pour the tomatoes on top and add your spices. Add the Kalamata olives, mix it slightly, cover and simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes.
You can tell if it's done when the chicken is so tender it falls off the bone.
Buon Apetito Everybody!