I've been a bit of a slacker on my recipe posts this week. I have no excuse. But rest assured I have not been a slacker with cooking! I have done 4 Shaw family dishes this week! The first one is Libby's Chicken Cacciatore (pg 139). It is a super easy recipe and really good spooned over rice. I also love any excuse to use my fabulous enameled dutch oven. I don't even care that it is hand wash only.....it's that wonderful. And if you know me...you know how badly I HATE doing dishes. But this is not a post about my dutch oven. But here it is if you want to ogle it. I have it in green.
Chicken Cacciatore
1 chicken, cut up
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 c flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 - 14 oz can tomatoes, undrained (I used diced)
1 - 8 0z can tomato sauce
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 c dry white wine
Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and dust with 3 Tbsp flour to coat. Heat oil in a 5 qt dutch oven. Brown chicken pieces in oil on all sides; 5 to 7 minutes; remove to plate.
In chicken drippings, cook onions and garlic, stirring constantly until softened and light golden (about 5 minutes). Add mushroom and cook, stirring, 3 minutes longer. Stir in remaining 1 Tbsp flour and cooking, stirring, 1 minute longer. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasoning. Heat to a boil. Return chicken to pan and spoon sauce over pieces. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 35 minutes. Stir in wine and simmer 10 minutes longer.
Some notes:
I used 2 large bone in chicken breasts that I cut up into 3 pieces each.
I only used 1 onion. I don't know if it was because I was wearing glasses instead of contacts or if that was just a very potent onion, but I couldn't see for the tears!! I usually don't get phased by cutting onions. On this one I even tried chewing a toothpick and putting bread in my mouth. Nothing worked. That onion about took me down!! So once I finally got it chopped, I was done with onions. And yes, Mom, it was one of ya'lls onions! :)
I did not include mushrooms. Neither Michael nor I are a fan of fungus. I even tried again the other day when McDonalds got my snack wrap order wrong and gave me mushroom and swiss instead of bacon and cheese. I tried it...it was one of the grossest things I've ever had in my mouth....and I used to be in animal nutrition...so you can only imagine!! :)
I did use white wine, but if you don't have it on hand, you could easily just omit it completely. You really wouldn't even need to add anything in its place. There is plenty of liquid. If you feel differently, add some chicken broth instead.
I loved this. I liked the simplicity and that it had components that I almost always have on hand. Michael was not terribly impressed. I can't remember what Joseph thought of it....I think he was having a bad eating day then. Who can trust his taste anyway?
If you have some chicken and some canned tomatoes (fabulous dutch oven optional), give this a try. Just be sure to make some rice or noodles to soak up some of that wonderful tomato sauce that goes with it!
Some ideas for leftovers (if you have any): Shred the chicken and use it on a pizza, tacos, or a sandwich. Put the leftover sauce in a jar for spaghetti or pizza sauce. That's what I did at least. I am always trying to stretch a meal!
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